Should Terence Crawford Retire?

Crawford has hinted at coming back down in weight to 160, with the aim of becoming a six-weight world champion. If he were to walk away now, Crawford would end his career as a 42-0 fighter. He will likely go down as a future Hall of Famer. Bud’s financial future is also secure. He earned a reported $50 million from the Canelo fight. Staying longer in the sport only exposes Crawford to more risk, and at the age of 38, Shakur wanted to see him retire.

“Retire. If I’m Bud Crawford, I’m the greatest. What am I doing? I already proved y’all everything. There’s nothing else to prove y’all anymore. “I beat all the guys that y’all said I couldn’t beat. If I was him, ‘I did everything. What am I doing? We go fight Canelo again; he can’t beat me. The only thing that may happen is I may stop him this time,” Shakur said 

Options

If he were to continue, Crawford could pursue a crossover bout. The UFC Lightweight Champion previously indicated that he could stop Crawford. Ilia has also stated that it is not long before he moves on from MMA into boxing. That paves the way for a possible crossover fight in the future. Roy Jones Jr. also earmarked that as a possibility for Crawford, with Jones advising him to potentially explore one more lucrative fight before walking away.

“If he retires next, it’d be the best thing. Had I retired after I beat Antonio Tarver the first time, we wouldn’t be having conversations about the greatest of all time. And we still shouldn’t, because facts are facts. But if Crawford does anything more, that’s what he should do [fight Ilia Topuria]. He deserves the reward at this time. Look how long he waited before he got the attention he has now. He deserves one more of those. If anything, that’s what he should do,” Crawford said