Undefeated boxing champion abruptly retires at 38
Terence Crawford unlaced his gloves and called it a career on Tuesday.
Boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter and the only male boxer to capture three unified division titles in the sport decided to walk away from the sport at 38 years old. He finished his career with a 42-0 record with 31 knockouts.
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"Every fighter knows this moment would come," he said in a video announcing his retirement. "You just never know when."
Crawford came off of a unanimous decision victory over Canelo Alvarez in September to win the super middleweight championship.
He turned pro in 2008 and won titles in four different weight classes – lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight. He moved up two weight divisions for the fight against Alvarez.
Earlier this month, Crawford was stripped of the World Boxing Council super middleweight title for allegedly failing to pay sanctioning fees for his last two fighst. Crawford ripped the organization after the title was taken away.
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Now, Crawford has decided to step away altogether.
"This sport gave me everything," Crawford said. "I fought for my family. I fought for the city. I fought for the kid I used to be, the one who had nothing but a dream and a pair of gloves, and I did it all my way.
"I've made peace with what's next. It's time."
Should Crawford choose to step back into the ring, Jake Paul will be waiting to guide him in between the ropes.
Paul, who is set to fight Anthony Joshua on Saturday night, didn’t believe Crawford was 100% retired from the sport.
"He'd have to get in line," Paul told reporters, via MMA Junkie. "Canelo, Crawford, all of these guys can just take a ticket, and we'll see who I want to fight. He's not retired, bro. You guys have seen this millions of times in boxing. He's not retired, but he's got everyone talking about him now because of that, so smart play by Terence."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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