Terence Crawford has been ruthlessly dismissed as a genuine threat, with an unbeaten world champion firmly believing that a win over the three-division undisputed king would be ‘easy’.
Since dethroning Canelo Alvarez in September, and claiming his four major belts in the process, ‘Bud’ has seemingly been sniffing around for a meaningful challenge.
While not yet confirming his next opponent, the fact that he reportedly rejected an offer to face Jake Paul, who will instead collide with Anthony Joshua on December 19, suggests that Crawford is remaining in the sport for all the right reasons.
He has, of course, already cemented his greatness, with a legacy-defining points victory over Canelo – up at 168lbs, no less – only enhancing his illustrious career.
Before that, Crawford had outpointed Israil Madrimov to claim his WBA world super-welterweight title, which followed his dominant ninth-round finish over Errol Spence Jr at 147lbs.
But now, while expressing little interest in remaining at super-middleweight, it would appear that the 38-year-old has set his sights on one man in the division below.
Just a few weeks ago, Crawford sent a clear message to Janibek Alimkhanuly, the unified world middleweight champion, by saying, “I’ve got my eyes on you, Janibek.”
Alimkhanuly is seemingly up for the contest, as he has already said in an interview with ESNEWS that, in a potential fight with Crawford, he would likely encounter minimal difficulties before having his hand raised.
“Of course – [it would be] easy.”
Before anything else, Alimkhanuly must first take care of business on December 6 when he faces Erislandy Lara, his WBA counterpart, on the undercard of Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs Lamont Roach Jr.
But with Lara, 42, having not fought since his ninth-round stoppage victory over an undersized Danny Garcia in September 2024, the IBF and WBO champion will enter their contest as a considerable favourite.
