Terence Crawford has been stripped of his IBF welterweight world title and so is no longer the undisputed champion.
The 147lbs king was crowned in July as he dominated and stopped Errol Spence to unify all four belts.
In doing so, Crawford became the first fighter in modern boxing to become a two-weight, four-belt undisputed world champion.However, just as when he first achieved the feat at super-lightweight in 2017, the American has been unable to retain the undisputed status for long.Back then, Crawford was stripped of his IBF world title just days after beating Julius Indongo to claim all four belts at 140lbs.
This was because he had an overdue mandatory challenger who had been made to wait and allow the undisputed fight to take place.
In doing so, Crawford became the first fighter in modern boxing to become a two-weight, four-belt undisputed world champion.
However, just as when he first achieved the feat at super-lightweight in 2017, the American has been unable to retain the undisputed status for long.
Back then, Crawford was stripped of his IBF world title just days after beating Julius Indongo to claim all four belts at 140lbs.
This was because he had an overdue mandatory challenger who had been made to wait and allow the undisputed fight to take place.
Now, the same situation has effectively happened again.
The IBF have revealed that they quietly ordered Crawford to defend against exciting American welterweight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis after his win over Spence.
However, Crawford’s team responded and told the sanctioning body that they could not fulfil the mandatory obligation as Spence had a rematch clause in his contract and has activated it, forcing the second fight between them to take place next.
This is not the IBF’s responsibility though, so they have acted by stripping Crawford and upgrading Ennis from ‘interim’ to full world champion.
