Is Terence Crawford the Greatest Of All Time?: a Sportz Nation Special Report

Zak Drapeau
Sep 14
5 min read

by Zak Drapeau 9/14/2025 Sportz Nation

Crawford Beats Canelo

Last night, Terence Crawford challenged Canelo Alvarez for the Super Middleweight Championship of the world and won by Unanimous decision. 115-113 on 2 scorecards and 116-114 on the third, "Bud" Crawford not only won the fight but did so in a convincing fashion.

This fight and championship were a historic milestone in Crawford's career. In what was his 42nd fight, Crawford not only secured his 42nd win but took home his 5th different weight-championship and his 3rd undisputed title. Now only the 6th boxer in history to win at 5 different weights, Crawford's journey can no longer be denied as he will go down as one of the very best to ever lace boxing gloves.

But is he the the best ever?

Crawford Historical Greatness

There's certainly an argument for it. Crawford's 5 weight championships puts him among the elite, only sharing the distinction with men like Mayweather, Leonard, Pacquiao, Hearns and De La Hoya. However, it's the 3 undisputed titles that we should look at more...

In Boxing, what's known as the "Four Belt Era" started in 1988 when the WBO became officially recognized as a sanctioning body of boxing. In 2004 when Bernard Hopkins won the WBO title from Oscar De La Hoya and simultaneously held all 4 (WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF) Middleweight titles making him the first to achieve any kind of undisputed status, the era began.

In that time, no man has ever won undisputed status in 3 different weight classes until "Bud" Crawford last night.

The first undisputed champion at 3 different weights, (Jr Welterweight, Welterweight and Super Middleweight) Crawford's ability to climb weight classes is what has separated him from others in his time. Only Manny Pacquiao has climbed more weight in his quest to conquer weight classes when he would go from Flyweight to Jr. Middleweight, a difference of 42 pounds.

Crawford's climb would span the Lightweight to the Super Middleweight division and 33 pounds. While the 4 other men that would achieve status in 5 weights were great, none of them spanned over 30 pounds of difference in their eight classes besides Pacquiao.

Greatest of His Era?

Before we determine if Crawford has a chance at the GOAT moniker, let's see how he holds up compared to others of his generation. For continuity's sake, we'll look at the last 10-15 years even though Crawford's first championship victory wasn't until 2014.

Since the turn of the 2010's, I have found what I would consider to be the boxers in contention for the GOAT of the Era:

- Terence Crawford

- Floyd Mayweather Jr.

- Oleksandr Usyk

- Tyson Fury

- Saul Alvarez

In my opinion, only Crawford, Mayweather or Usyk hold a legitimate case for being the greatest of the last 15 years.

Mayweather Jr.

A lot of people wouldn't even consider Mayweather Jr as part of this generation but I have to respectfully disagree. If we are only counting the last 10 years than yes, he absolutely is out of the discussion. However, if we look at the years 2010-2015 Floyd Mayweather Jr. not only has 5 fights but they are a 5-year resume we may have never seen in the sport at the twilight of his career. Beating Canelo, Cotto, Pacquiao, Maidana (2x) and Berto among others without any of his fights really being close.

Mayweather may be disqualified from this generation's GOAT due to his success in the previous generation but it depends on where you draw the line. For this article's sake we'll make the call that he's the last generation's GOAT but it goes to his credit that he should be in this conversation too.

Usyk

Then there's Oleksandr Usyk, the reigning Heavyweight Champion and Pound-for-Pound #1 boxer in the world until Crawford likely surpasses him in the next ranking. Also undefeated and an undisputed champion at multiple divisions, Usyk is Crawford's main competition for this era in most people's eyes.

Usyk's rise to best Cruiserweight in the world was meteoric, taking the crown less than 5 years after his debut. Then he would jump from Cruiserweight to Heavyweight (often recognized as the toughest jump of any weight class) in 2019 and has beaten a who's-who since. Fury (2x), Joshua (2x), Dubois (2x), Chisora and Witherspoon. While the fight last night should be looked at as an era-defining fight, Usyk's fights with Fury (especially the first) held an even higher level of "era-definition.

Usyk sits at 24-0 with 15 KOs and championships and undisputed status at 2 weight classes. While in my opinion it is more difficult to win in the Cruiserweight-to-Heavyweight jump, the skill level of Cruiserweight can't compare to any of Crawford's weights. Usyk's dominance at Heavyweight against the opponents he's faced is better than any single-weight that Crawford has conquered however. Finally, you have to look at Crawford's history at so many different divisions. Therefore because he's dominated more classes than Usyk including 18 more wins and 16 more knockouts, I have to go with Crawford for this argument.

Goat of THIS Generation: Terence Crawford

Greatest of All Time?

"Hey man, who's the greatest _______ of all time?"

It's a question that has been asked millions of times before and will continue to be asked until the end of time. In a sport like boxing that has been around for over 150 years, it may be impossible to ever have a definitive answer.

Can you say Terence Crawford is greater than Muhammad Ali or "Sugar" Ray Robinson? Is Crawford even better than Floyd Mayweather Jr.? How heavy do you have to weigh fighters' PRIMES versus their career success and if you do... where is Mike Tyson on your list?

The last argument you can make is of a boxers' selling ability. Unfortunately for Crawford this is where he can't compete with the other all time greats simply because of the era he's in. Boxing just isn't as big as it was in the 1970's-early 2000's.

I will not pretend to be an expert in the sport of Boxing, but I will do the IMPOSSIBLE and actually give you my ranking of the....

Top-10 Boxers of All Time

1. "Sugar" Ray Robinson

2. Joe Louis

3. Muhammad Ali

4. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

5. Willie Pep

6. Terence Crawford

7. Rocky Marciano

8. Mike Tyson

9. Jack Johnson

10. Manny Pacquiao