Terence Crawford’s 154-Pound Exit: WBO President Confirms Interim Vacated Belt, Canelo Pursuit

The WBO president, Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. revealed that Terence Crawford “will not return to 154” and will be vacating his interim belt with that organization.

It’s a move that was expected by Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) because he’s making a lot of money, challenging Canelo Alvarez for his titles at super middleweight on September 13th.

Crawford’s Exit

After that payday, Crawford, 38, would be taking a massive pay cut to return to 154 to fight the current champion, Sebastian Fundora, in a match that would involve a lot of risk for him due to his lack of size and advanced age.

Returning to 154 to fight younger fighters with size and ability would be difficult for Crawford, who only fights once a year. By the time he returns after his victory lap or crushing defeat from the Alvarez fight, he’ll be 39 years old, and you can’t expect him to fight the 6’5 1/2″ stork Fundora.

It’s unclear what Crawford will do after his fight with Canelo. Obviously, he’s counting on defeating Canelo and getting a lucrative rematch. That would be the ideal situation for the Nebraska native Crawford. However, if he loses to Canelo, it’ll be interesting to see if he chooses to stay at 168, return to 154, or retire.

He can still make huge money fighting on the Riyadh Season events if they want to use him for fights. They seem to be fond of Crawford, so he should still be useful if matched carefully. You couldn’t match Crawford against any of the bigger fighters like David Benavidez or David Morrell because he’d get chopped up due to their size, power, and youth. He’d do well against someone like Edgar Berlanga. That would be a fun fight for entertainment, watching Crawford expose Berlanga worse than Canelo did.

Zayas’ Rise

Olivieri recommends that #1 WBO 154-lb contender Xander Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) be made mandatory to champion Sebastian Fundora. If that happens, the winner of Saturday’s fight between WBC/WBO Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) and Chordale Booker will have 120 days to defend against the Top Rank-promoted Zayas.

Top Rank has protected the 22-year-old Xander Zayas the same way they shielded Berlanga when he was with them. So, it’s hard to know if he’s any good or not. His opposition has been so awful that there’s no way of knowing if he’s a hype job like Berlanga or has actual talent. Top Rank is trying to turn Zayas into a star to bring in the money in the New York area.

There hasn’t been a Puerto Rican star to fill the shoes left by Miguel Cotto. Berlanga isn’t the guy because he needs to be protected for him to do well. It’s questionable whether Zayas can be the next Cotto because he can’t punch and would have problems if he were thrown in with one of the top guys at 154, like Bakhram Murtazaliev, Vergil Ortiz Jr. or Serhii Bohachuk. Putting Zayas in with anyone with power would be a bad idea.