By Jack Tanner
Copyright independent
Terence Crawford joined a very select group of boxers on Saturday night when he defeated Canelo Alvarez to claim all four world titles at super middleweight.
Having reigned as a world champion at lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight, and super welterweight, Crawford is now one of six men to hold a major belt in five separate weight classes.
The new undisputed super middleweight king is one of the pound-for-pound stars in modern boxing – but where does he rank among the sweet science’s quintuple champions?
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Super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight, super welterweight, middleweight
Oscar De La Hoya stands alone in having won world titles at six different weights, the second most behind Pacquiao.
Another name on this list that wasn’t afraid of the big names, De La Hoya has the lowest winning percentage out of the six quintuple champions. He lost to both Mayweather and Pacquiao towards the end of his career, whilst peers such as Felix Trinidad and Pernell Whittaker also got the better of him.
An exciting watch, De La Hoya fought at multiple weights, first winning a world championship at super featherweight before eventually earning a belt at middleweight.
A big ticket seller, ultimately De La Hoya’s losses outweigh his achievement of being a six-division champion.
Another of the four kings, Tommy Hearns was defeated by Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler, leaving it hard to rate the American above his fellow five-division champion. He at least managed to defeat Roberto Duran, and never shied away from the toughest tests, leading to unification bouts and fights for undisputed status.
His legendary position in boxing is well deserved, winning world titles from welterweight up to light heavyweight – alongside a minor title at cruiserweight.
He would also fight for the best part of 30 years, starting in 1977 and retiring in 2006.
If this was a list purely based on how many different weights a boxer won a world title at, Manny Pacquiao would stand atop it.
No fighter has matched the Filipino’s record of winning belts in eight different divisions, starting from flyweight and ending up at super welterweight.
Unlike Mayweather, the man painted to be the biggest rival of his career, Pacquiao was no stranger to defeat inside the ring.
His current record stands at 62 wins, with eight losses and three draws. That instantly holds him from ranking higher, especially when it is considered that one of those losses was to Mayweather.
However, winning world titles at 112lbs and 154lbs showcases how Pacquiao was to be feared at any stage of his career.
Having recently returned to the ring to share a draw with WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, Pacquiao has reminded the world of his longevity, another argument in his favour.
50 wins from 50 fights, a perfect record for Floyd Mayweather. He built a big part of his boxing persona on remaining undefeated, winning titles in five different weight classes along the way.
He shared the ring with some big names, but it always felt like Mayweather could have tested himself further.
A detracting point for Mayweather was his risk-averse approach to matchmaking at different points of his career. He was accused of waiting to age out Manny Pacquiao, hyping up the fight for the best part of a decade before finally meeting ‘PacMan’ in 2015.
Crawford and Leonard are also far more entertaining watches, with Mayweather a defensive master who knew how to spoil a match with clinching. After an impressive knockout of the late Ricky Hatton in 2007, Mayweather managed just one more stoppage in the 11 remaining fights of his career.
Mayweather also showed little interest in unifying his belts at any of the five weights he reigned as world title, far more concerned with preserving his ‘0’. A talented boxer who quite rightfully remained in the pound-for-pound lists throughout his career, Mayweather’s aversion to risky fights makes it hard to argue he should be higher. Where possible, Crawford has sought out greatness and achieved it, whilst Mayweather simply proclaimed it, with little to show for it.
Sugar Ray Leonard has many fans who would claim that he is the greatest fighter to compete in the boxing ring. A gold medallist at the Olympics in 1976, Leonard was one of the ‘Four Kings’ alongside Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler that dominated boxing following the heyday of Muhammad Ali.
Gifted physically with speed and power, Leonard took the American Olympic style and used it to great effect. He wasn’t impossible to hit, but even if an opponent landed cleanly, he had a solid chin.
Having defeated all three of his contemporaries, Leonard has proof that he was the best pound-for-pound fighter for most of the 1980s, a claim backed by winning titles across weight classes.
That being said, Leonard’s status as a five-division champion is slightly inflated. After ending his third retirement, Leonard decided to take on WBC light heavyweight champion Danny LaLonde.
However, rather than compete at the 175lbs limit, the fight was set at 168lbs, with the inaugural WBC super middleweight belt also on the line. Leonard was fighting at a career heaviest, whilst LaLonde was at the lightest weight of his career.
Despite Canadian LaLonde starting strongly and knocking down the ring-rusted Leonard in the fourth round, Sugar Ray turned the fight around from the fifth, taking a more aggressive approach.
In the ninth LaLonde was knocked down twice, leading to Leonard winning the two titles on offer by technical knockout. Already at his physical limit, Sugar Ray vacated the light heavyweight title, but retained the super middleweight version of the world championship.
Claims of recency bias may be made, but it cannot be denied that Crawford stands alone in creating history.
Already the first man to reign as undisputed in two separate weight classes during the four-belt era, ‘Bud’ re-established himself at the top of boxing when he completely conquered a third division by defeating Canelo.
An impressive feat alone, the fact that Crawford has now won titles at either end of a 33lb range further separates him from his peers.
What Crawford lacks in comparison to other five-division champions is a list of impressive names on his CV. Victory over fellow modern-great Canelo has certainly boosted that deficiency, but aside from his dominant win over Errol Spence Jr, there are few statement performances against star fighters.
Israil Madrimov’s stock has only dropped since losing to Crawford, his return to the ring a defeat to Vergil Ortiz Jr, whilst Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Shawn Porter, and Yuriorkis Gamboa were all past their best when defeated by ‘Bud’.
It should be pointed out that Crawford’s inactivity does not stem from his own reluctance to take risky fights – as evidenced by jumping up two weight classes to face the super middleweight king Canelo.
His welterweight days were frustrated by a lack of co-operation from Premier Boxing Champions and their reluctance to matchmake outside of their stable. A lot of the top welterweights at the time were contracted to PBC, forcing Crawford to kick his heels during what was arguably his prime years.
As such, it is hard to judge Crawford for a lack of high-profile fights – it takes two to tango. Instead, Crawford can only be judged for the relative ease of dispatching opponents, ranging from lightweight to super middleweight – a feat that is hard to match.
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