Karma has caught up with Terence Crawford, with his would-be prize, Tim Tszyu, losing to the giant Sebastian Fundora last Saturday night, taking away a massive money fight for the Nebraska native.
It looks like Crawford could be forced to fight Josh Kelly next for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title. That’s going to be interesting to see how well this albatross sells on PPV.
Is this karma catching up to Crawford? We all know he didn’t want to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to give him a chance, choosing to ignore the young lion that needed him so that he could snatch the baton from him to be the next star. Would things have been different if Crawford had fought Boots? It could be.
Last year, Crawford missed out on a fight with Jermell Charlo after he was soundly beaten by Canelo Alvarez, losing all value to him as a viable opponent, and now Tszyu (27-1, 17 KOs), who would have been a nice, winnable for.
Spence Eyes a Giant, Crawford Out in the Cold
Errol Spence Jr. is expected to be the next opponent for newly crowned WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora (21-1, 13 KOs), not Crawford, after his 12-round split decision victory over Tszyu in their unification battle last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fundora’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, told the media last night that Spence is their next opponent and that Crawford must wait for what could be two fights.
Lewkowicz also mentioned wanting to give Tszyu a rematch, which means that Crawford would be waiting for three fights before he gets a chance to fight the last man standing, be it Fundora, Spence, or Tim.
If Fundora fights Spence next, Boots Ennis might be Crawford’s best option if he wants a mega-fight that the boxing public will care about.
It would be a complete waste of Crawford’s time to move up to 160 to take on British middleweight Chris Eubank Jr., because American fans aren’t going to be interested in that mismatch.
Karma’s a… You Know
The universe has fired back at Crawford, taking away the Tszyu, and Fundora fights for him for ignoring the young talent, Boots Ennis. It’s a classic example of karma stepping in to mess up Crawford’s hopes for big fights.
There’s a lesson here for older fighters that resist the natural order of things. When they break from tradition to ignore the young stars, this is what happens.