Terence Crawford may soon be finding a place to stage at least his next fight as Frank Smith, CEO of Matchroom Boxing, confirms talks have taken place between the UK-based promotional outfit and the American welterweight. With Crawford’s contract with the PBC said to have expired following the expiration of Errol Spence’s rematch clause, the former undisputed welterweight was reportedly a free agent.
It is still unknown the extent to which Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KO’s) would be incorporated into Matchroom, as there is a possibility for him to fight under the Matchroom banner on a fight-by-fight basis, but Frank Smith acknowledged that the promotion was interested in signing Crawford.
“I’ve spoken to his team a couple of times,” Smith told The Stomping Ground. “I love to look at opportunities. I guess it depends as well on which weight division he [Terence Crawford] is looking to move to―possibly 154 [lbs], but yeah, let’s see.“
Terence Crawford first became a free agent in November of 2021 and has subsequently fought once for BLK Prime and PBC during which he respectively defeated David Avanesyan (30-4-1, 18 KO’s) in 2022, and Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KO’s) in 2023.
As he does not appear to be interested in aligning himself with a promotion or network for the long-term, Matchroom can serve as a potential home for the American fighter with the UK company known to be one of the more prolific promotions in allowing fighters to fight for them without being tied down to longer commitments.
This was especially prevalent in 2023 where Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO’s), O’Shaquie Foster (22-2, 12 KO’s) and Fabio Wardley (17-0, 16 KO’s) all competed for Matchroom in a single fight without definitively signing with the promotional outfit for a longer duration, or more matches.
Currently, it is unknown which potential fighters Crawford could face if he did sign as his plans are currently still undetermined. Earlier this year, Crawford had been linked to a possible fight with Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KO’s) who is set to fight upcoming March 30th, but more prominently Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KO’s) was Crawford’s main target of interest.
Though Alvarez has clearly expressed his unwillingness to face Crawford, a potential fight between the two might not entirely be out of bounds if Alvarez signs with Matchroom following reports of him splitting with PBC. However, recent rumors now seem to point towards Canelo Alvarez having returned to work with PBC following the unconfirmed reports of his departure from the US-based promotional outfit, thereby heavily lessening the chances of Crawford landing a fight with the Mexican champion,
Given Terence Crawford has shown no interest towards fighting IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28 KO’s), who is also a free agent or a free agent-to-be, his options remain slim even with Matchroom as there are no decipherable big names signed to the promotion―or any other promotion aligned to DAZN― in or around Crawford’s weight division that would interest him at this point.
