Back in July, Terence Bud Crawford became the undisputed world welterweight champion when he put forth a dominant effort against Errol Spence Jr. Crawford dropped Spence several times before the fight was mercifully stopped in round 9.
The dominant nature of the victory over a fellow pound for pound elite propelled Crawford to new heights, where many if not most reputable boxing publications, namely Ring Magazine, ESPN and TBRB all have Crawford listed as their #1 P4P King of Boxing. Beyond that the victory held great historical significance.
Crawford became the first undisputed world welterweight champion during the modern 4 belt era. On top of all that, this was just the 10th time any man has become undisputed champion in any weight class during the modern 4 belt era, and Crawford has now done it twice, first at 140 and here again at 147. That marks Terence Crawford as the only man to become an undisputed world champion in two weight classes during the modern 4 belt era.
Despite the enormous magnitude of his victory, and the historical significance thereof, just 4 months later, the IBF stripped Crawford and they awarded their title to Jaron Ennis. This is especially strange given the fact that during his reign which lasted more than 6 years, Spence only had to make one single mandatory defense of the very same IBF welterweight belt.
That defense for Spence happened more than 5 years ago when he stopped Carlos Ocampo in round 1 all the way back in June 2018. The mere fact that Ocampo was ever named a mandatory in the first place is a bit baffling, but the fact remains that Spence only made one mandatory defense in 6 plus years, and the IBF now had the audacity to strip Crawford a mere 4 months after he won the belt in impressive fashion.
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will provide some quick thoughts on the recent situation where the IBF stripped Terence Crawford of their belt, and awarded it to Jaron Ennis. Please watch and enjoy the video. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).