In his 41st fight, Terence Crawford became a four-weight world champion.
Starting out in the lightweight ranks, the Omaha switch-hitter won his first world title in 2014 – a unanimous decision over Scotland’s Ricky Burns in Glasgow.
After two successful defences – Yuriorkis Gamboa (KO) and Ray Beltran (UD) – ‘Bud’ moved up to the 140 ranks and beat Thomas Dulorme for the vacant WBO belt. He would unify against Viktor Postol and become undisputed by beating Julius Indongo in three rounds.
Welterweight was next and Crawford knocked out Jeff Horn in his divisional debut to get his latest WBO strap. He knocked out six opponents – Jose Benavidez Jr, Amir Khan, Egidijus ‘Mean Machine’ Kavaliauskas, Kell Brook, Shawn Porter and David Avanesyan – before handily beating and stopping unified champion Errol Spence Jr to become two-time undisputed.
That all led to last month when ‘Bud’ ended his stoppage streak with a win over Israil Madrimov at super-welterweight. Post-fight, he was asked if the tricky fighter from Uzbekistan was his toughest opponent.
“I wouldn’t say it was my toughest fight. I think ‘Mean Machine’ was a tougher fight than that. I think Gamboa was a tougher fight than that. I think Benavidez was a tougher fight than that.”
That’s an honour Crawford holds for Gamboa, whom he knocked out in June of 2014. In an interview with the Breakfast Club he explained why.
“I would say the hardest fight in my career, it would have to be between Egidijus and Gamboa. Gamboa’s feet was just so fast and he was so small to where he was darting in and darting out, hitting me and making me miss just by an inch. I had to make certain adjustments, he was making adjustments… It was a chess match but a fast chess match. He was getting the better of me because he was more experienced, but at the same time he was more explosive. I just had to figure out the puzzle a little longer.”
An Olympic Gold Medalist, Cuba’s Gamboa turned pro in 2007 and went undefeated in 23 fights before meeting his match in ‘Bud’. In that time he had won the WBA Featherweight Regular belt before moving up.
Crawford fought back from an early deficit, switching southpaw, to drop a relentless and quick Gamboa four times on his way to the ninth round stoppage.
Gamboa’s last three outings have been defeats, stopped by Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz and decisioned by Devin Haney. He was jailed in 2023 after a fatal car accident.