Terence Crawford created history in the sport of boxing by becoming the undisputed champion of two different divisions. In a 50-50 predicted matchup, Crawford showcased a brilliant performance against Errol Spence Jr and delivered a 9th-round knockout. However, he couldn’t even rightfully defend his status, as recently he was stripped of one of the four belts. This turned the tables overnight as Crawford was demoted to a unified welterweight champion.

His fight with Spence had a contractual clause, that supposedly prohibits him from taking any fight in the welterweight division. For that reason, he’s been calling out fighters from the other divisions rather than the welterweight. However, Crawford was aware that such a thing might happen, the moment he signed the contracts.

Terence Crawford got stripped of his IBF title

‘Bud’, the undefeated three-division champion, finds himself in a unique predicament. The International Boxing Federation (IBF) has decided to no longer recognize his undisputed reign. The reason behind this decision lies in Crawford’s inability to fulfill a mandatory title defense obligation. The twist in the tale comes as he owes Jaron Ennis a shot at his titles. But complications arise due to a contractual rematch clause with Spence Jr.

One of the IBF spokesperson told BoxingScene.com, “On August 25, the IBF sent a letter to TBC Promotions directing Terence Crawford to begin negotiations with interim Champion Jaron Ennis.” All of the negotiations were to be done by September 24, which wasn’t possible.

So, IBF received a mail from the representative of the boxer, Harrison Whitman. It stated, “The agreement for the Spence vs. Crawford bout contains an immediate rematch provision which Errol Spence has exercised.” For this reason, he couldn’t accept the fight against Jaron Ennis. And now, Ennis is the new IBF Welterweight Champion.

Meanwhile, the reason Crawford’s team gave for not engaging in a title defense was immediately discarded by the IBF since it breached an important rule of the sport.

Crawford vs. Spence contractual clause breached an IBF rule

In a strategic move, Terence Crawford’s team played the negotiation game for about 30 days. Before they officially communicated their commitment to a rematch with Errol Spence Jr. Interestingly, sanctioning bodies typically don’t recognize rematch clauses as valid exceptions for mandatory title fights.

This deviation from the norm becomes apparent in IBF Rule 3.B., which explicitly prohibits the use of rematch clauses as justifiable reasons for bypassing mandatory obligations. The rule states, “No contract for a Championship contest shall contain any clause or any provision, whatsoever, guaranteeing or in any way assuring or promising either contestant a return Championship contest where such clause or provision interferes with the mandatory defense of a title.”

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However a lot of big fights ignore this rule, and as aforementioned Crawford always knew that this could happen, and he took that risk to prove that his  undisputed title grab wasn’t a fluke. What are your thoughts about this? Tell us in the comments section.

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