More than the fans, Terence Crawford himself was looking forward to the clash against Canelo Alvarez. The Omaha native has been chasing the fight against the Mexican icon for years now. And just when it looked like things were falling in place, everything came crashing down. For the past few months, multiple reports suggested that the talks for the Alvarez-Crawford fight have been progressing smoothly. Several reports even suggested that the fight is all but confirmed.

However, on Wednesday, The Ring Magazine updated the news that the fight had been canceled. It didn’t take much time before fans started thinking about the next move for Terence Crawford, who had put all his hopes on the Canelo fight. Now, the WBA super welterweight champion has a completely open calendar in 2025. Despite Canelo dropping the fight, the 37-year-old isn’t without opponents. Who are some of them? The fans have spoken.

Bakhram Murtazaliev

Bakhram Murtazaliev had a breakout year in 2024 as he got his hands on the vacant IBF junior middleweight title in April and then successfully defended it by destroying Tim Tszyu in just three rounds despite entering the fight with a broken right hand. This puts him at the top of Bud’s division.

However, with an explosive year, he has become the boogeyman of 154 lbs and a unification bout between the IBF and WBA champion will be a showstopper. Furthermore, the negotiations might be easier as Murtazaliev recently expressed his desire to face Terence Crawford. Not only that, the Grozny native is confident that he will defeat ‘Bud’ and put his legacy in question. “Crawford is also a good fighter, but I don’t think it will happen. If Crawford fights me, it’s a big chance on his part, and he could lose. If he loses to me, people are going to turn against him after all the years of great work that he did. They’ll say, ‘he wasn’t the best’,” explained Murtazaliev while talking to The Ring.

While the Russian is not wrong and this fight will be risky for Bud. However, a win against Murtazaliev will establish the Omaha native as one of the best ever given that Murtazaliev is still in his prime at 32 while Bud is at the far end of 37.

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis

Many would love to see Crawford drop back to 147 and take on Jaron Ennis, who holds the IBF welterweight championship. Ennis is also coming back after a stellar 2024, making short work of David Avanesyan and dominating Karen Chukhadzhian thoroughly in the rematch in November.

He will now defend his title in a unification bout against the undefeated Lithuanian Eimantas Stanionis in April and a win here would establish him as one of the best champions at 147 lbs. While Ennis has been impressive in his reign, he has never fought anyone as seasoned and well-rounded as Terence Crawford.

Furthermore, ‘Boots’ has completely rejected the idea of moving up to 154 lbs and even rejected a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. because of that. On the other hand, Terence Crawford is trying to settle down at 154 lbs and a move back to welterweight will hurt that. So, unless one of them decides to change their plans, this fight looks difficult, even though it will be a barnburner.

Sebastian Fundora

Another route for the Nebraskan champion is to target the historic achievement of being an undisputed championship in three divisions. This means a clash against the reigning unified (WBC and WBO) super welterweight champion, Sebastian Fundora is not out of the question.

Standing at 6’5, Fundora is one of the most terrifying young fighters in the world. However, the West Palm Beach native has been in a bit of a slump and has not fought since March last year. However, ‘The Towering Inferno’ is still a dominant force to reckon with and if ‘Bud’ truly wants to test himself at 154 lbs, there could be no better fight than this.

Terence Crawford has cleaned out two divisions and has a record that most fighters could not even dream of. He deserves to go out on his terms and while that looks impossible now that the Canelo Alvarez fight has been canceled, retiring as the undisputed champion in his third division does not look like a bad trade.

Who do you think will be an ideal alternative fight for Terence Crawford? Let us know your thoughts down below.