He might have fallen short on his attendance in the ring, but that doesn’t seem to have bothered boxing fans. For, in Terence Crawford, they found the boxer most deserving of ESPN’s annual athletic achievements award, ‘The ESPY’. The ceremony feting star performers from across the disciplines concluded two days ago at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater. Tennis legend Serena Williams played a commendable role as the event host.

As far as combat sports are concerned, ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley took away the honors as the best UFC fighter. For boxing, it was none other than the Nebraskan southpaw ‘Bud’ Crawford. The outstanding switch-hitter is gearing up for his next adventure. It takes place on August 3rd. He will meet the reigning light middleweight champion, Israil Madrimov. It is a campaign that many deem a bugle call for supermiddleweight ace Canelo Alvarez. Always the soft-spoken gentleman that he is, Terence Crawford stepped away from his hectic training schedule for a while to express his gratitude to all the fans who voted for him.

Terence Crawford tips his hat to the fans

The message on ‘Bud’ Crawford’s Instagram post read: “2x Undisputed, 2x Espy Winner! Shoutouts to Team Crawford and all the fans that voted. August 3, we back!” It features a series of clips taken from the training camp. But first, it was the message to all the diehard supporters.

“Shoutout to all the Team Crawford fans that voted for me for Best Boxer Award for the 2024 ESPY Awards,” said the first two-division undisputed champion among men. He shared his determination to achieve the next milestone of his glittering career as a four-weight division world champion’. The welterweight champion expressed his appreciation for everyone and told them to stay tuned in for his upcoming fight on August 3.

From jumping ropes to swimming, track and field, or the gym, fans got a glimpse of what Terence Crawford has been doing, hell-bent on achieving what he wants next. Last year, he defeated Errol Spence Jr. in a thriller that sealed his name among the best boxers of the current era.

Needless to say, a stream of responses streamed in. One of the replies came from close friend, Michael B. Jordan. The Hollywood star had picked his boxing basics from ‘Bud’ for the movie ‘Creed’. He responded back with the ‘on fire’ emoticons.

The path towards greatness

According to a story on ‘Yard Barker’, there seemed to be confusion among fans over the ‘Best Boxer Award’. Some felt that, perhaps given the title defense this year, Naoya Inoue probably deserved the award more than Crawford. The American champion had barely fought any fights this year.

However, the fact of the matter is that ESPY awards are bestowed for the athletes’ performances from the last year. So in Crawford’s case, it justifies it on account of one of the biggest fights he gave on July 29 last year.

Terence Crawford might come in as the favorite to win the fight with the Uzbek warrior. However, he isn’t taking any chances. Because a win would only make his argument to claim a stake in that holy grail of boxing matches, the fight with Canelo Alvarez. While Bud has time and again expressed his interest in a face-off, many critics have cited the steep divisional difference jump he might have to take to meet the Mexican icon.

So what is the logical step? Move and inch closer, jump a division, consolidate a victory at a time, and then aim for the next target. Madrimov secured the vacant WBA (super) light middleweight title after defeating Magomed Kurbanov early in March this year. So if Terence Crawford can look forward to either title unification and being the undisputed champion in the weight class as he did in 147 pounds or move up again to 160 pounds.

Who would you want Terence Crawford to fight next?