Former undisputed king at 147lbs Terence Crawford has vacated another one of his titles at 147lbs. Reported by Michael Benson Crawford has now vacated his WBO world title at 147lbs. Crawford still holds the WBA world title at 147lbs but it’s expected he’ll be stripped or vacate shortly.
This seemingly confirms that Crawford will be staying at 154lbs or moving up in weight again. And following Vergil Ortiz Jr’s hard fought decision win over Serhii Bohachuk talks of Crawford vs Ortiz have started. This is a fight that makes sense for both fighters and undoubtedly would be fireworks. So, this fight could very well be Crawford’s next. A win over Ortiz would continue to establish Crawford as a threat at 154lbs following his win over Madrimov. And for Ortiz a win over Crawford is a great name for his resume and gets Ortiz a world title at 154lbs.
Implications for 147LBS Division Post Crawford
As for the implications for 147lbs there are several the main one being the WBO title being free. However, it is not free as the interim WBO champion Brian Norman Jr has been elevated to full WBO champion. So, we have a newly crowned champion at 147lbs in Brian Norman Jr an impressive young contender. What this also means is that the belts are finally starting to fragment again.
So, now that at least 3 of the belts are free from Crawford’s grasp the IBF, WBO, and WBC titles held by 3 different people. This now gives opportunities for contenders to try their hand at getting the belts now that there are champs active in the division. It also means there’s the potential for unification between the IBF champ Jaron Ennis and WBO champ Brian Norman Jr. Ennis had a successful defence back in July dispatching of David Avanesyan in 5 rounds. A fight between the 2 young champions is bound to be exciting.
The WBC belt is also free with the interim champion Mario Barrios being elevated to full champion. This also means that there can be unifications involving the WBC with either Ennis or Norman Jr. So, we may be able to see a champ with 3 of the belts before the year is out. Given that the other belts have been taken from Crawford it’s only a matter of time before he loses the WBA. And when that happens We will likely see another elevation this time of Eimantas Stanionis the WBA regular champ.
These changes bode well for the welterweight division bringing a new sense of life. The division is now moving on past Terence Crawford, Errol Spence etc. And hopefully we will see unifications between these young newly crowned champions.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
