BREAKING! Terence Crawford no longer UNDISPUTED champ as IBF strips him; elevates interim-champion Jaron Ennis to world
The undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford remains undisputed no more. Crawford was stripped by the IBF in a shocking move.
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Terence Crawford (image credit- The New York Times)
Terence Crawford became the undisputed welterweight champion by brutally defeating Errol Spence Jr. in July of this year. However, Crawford was stripped of his IBF title and is no longer the undisputed champion of the welterweight division. The International Boxing Federation (IBF) stripped him of his IBF title subsequently for failing to meet a contractual obligation.
Furthermore, Crawford was supposed to fight a mandatory title defense against IBF Interim Welterweight Champion Jaron Ennis. Michael Benson reported the news on X via a report from Boxing Social. This is what he wrote:
The IBF have now officially confirmed that they've stripped Terence Crawford of his IBF welterweight world title because they ordered him to defend vs Jaron 'Boots' Ennis next, but he could not fight the mandatory due to Errol Spence's rematch clause.Michael Benson via X.
Hence, since Crawford will not be able to fight Ennis next, he has been stripped of the title. Furthermore, Ennis was upgraded from the interim IBF welterweight champion to the IBF welterweight champion.
It is rare for sanctioning bodies to permit rematch clauses to be used as a justification not to fight a title defense. Furthermore, the IBF notably prohibits this practice and made a swift decision to strip Crawford’s title.
Jermell Charlo accuses Terence Crawford of illegal shots against Errol Spence Jr.
In July, Crawford made his long-awaited return to the ring in Las Vegas against Spence. Furthermore, the fight was expected to be one of the biggest of the year. Subsequently, the winner would be the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era of the welterweight division.
However, the fight itself did not live up to the hype because Crawford dominated Spence across the fight. Crawford scored three knockdowns and knocked out his opponent in the ninth round of the fight. The result made Crawford the first undisputed champion of a second-weight division. However, his victory came with controversy because Jermell Charlo accused him of landing illegal shots in the fight. Subsequently, Charlo vowed to KO Crawford to avenge his close friend Spence.
In addition, his brother Charlo could fight Crawford at some point. The duo clearly do not like each other, and Crawford might move up in weight to fight Charlo. Fight fans would love a grudge match between the two.
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Nidhin Shibu
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