Terence Crawford appears to be aiming to conquer another division.
Just shy a month following his September 13th victory over Canelo Alvarez to become undisputed at super middleweight (168 lbs) and the first male fighter to become undisputed in two and three weight classes, Crawford (42-0, 31 KO’s) appears to now gunning for the middleweight (160 lbs) division in hopes of becoming a four-time undisputed and six-division champion.
Spotted together with Oleksandr Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas, Terence Crawford signaled his intent to face Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KO’s) who will be in a unification fight against Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KO’s) come December 6:
“I got my eyes on you, Janibek,” Crawford said. “Good luck!“
Alimkhanuly is regarded as the best middleweight in the division and has two of the belts [WBO & IBF] to prove his credentials. The Kazakh champion’s upcoming bout against WBA 160-pound Lara will see the winner hold three belts ― which could further see an undisputed bout against WBC champion Carlos Adames (24-1-1, 18 KO’s) occur.
With 32-year old Janibek Alimkhanuly highly expected to come out on top against Erislandy Lara, who is a decade older than him, a follow-up battle against Adames would put things in perfect position for Terence Crawford to swoop in and face the eventual undisputed champion at 160 lbs.
Though questions persist as to why Crawford does not face Adames for his WBC middleweight title, the American fighter has been known to fight once per year and according to Alimkhanuly has earned the right to wait and take all:
“He [Crawford] doesn’t need to fight Adames,” Alimkhanuly asserted on social media. “I’ll beat both Lara and Adames, take all four belts, and then he can take his time and get ready to fight me.“
Alimkhanuly and Adames are known to have a rivalry that’s been most palpable on social media with both fighters accusing each other of avoiding them. A potential undisputed fight between the two would be arguably the biggest fight in the middleweight division for several years and only be exceeded by the magnitude of a Alimkhanuly-Crawford fight thereafter.
