Terence Crawford refused to retire from professional boxing after overcoming Canelo Alvarez on Saturday, despite rumours that he could call time on his career.
In outpointing Canelo in Las Vegas, Crawford stayed unbeaten and took the undisputed super-middleweight titles. That feat made him the first three-weight undisputed king of the modern era, after he ventured two divisions above his previous maximum on Saturday.
And with the American, 37, having held world titles in five divisions overall, there seems very little left for him in boxing.
Still, he did not use the moment of his victory, in front of more than 70,000 fans in Allegiant Stadium, to retire.
“I don’t know [if this is the last fight of my career],” he said. “I’ve got to sit down with my team and we’ll talk about it.”
Evaluating his performance, he said: “I feel great. Anybody can be a nobody, a lot of people doubted me, said I’d fought nobody, had no personality. They all wrote me off for years.
“I’ve always sparred bigger guys, I’d bully the smaller guys. I used to work on my defence. Fighting at a bigger weight, not having to lose so much, it helped me. I wanted to come out orthodox, but my coaches said southpaw will kill him. That’s what we did tonight.
“He’s a strong champion, I’ve got nothing but respect for him, he fought like a champion today.
“We knew what he was trying to do: the wide hooks. He knew I was faster, but he then respected my power.
“I felt like I had to separate myself, I didn’t want to eat too soon, but when the time came, I let my hands go. I was looking at his body language, things like that, trying to amp himself up. I’m not going to feed into that and give him the opportunity.
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“He didn’t hit as hard as I thought he [would]. He’s definitely technical, but I’ve been hit harder.
“I’m blessed by God, like I said, they never gave me credit. I told you all, a lot of people would go home disappointed and crying.”
Opening up on how he came to be matched with the Mexican, 35, Crawford added: “I couldn’t get the Errol Spence [rematch]. Bill Haney put it in my mind: ‘Forget Errol, go for Canelo, you can beat him.’
“But I said, ‘Canelo, he’s 168!?’ But then I thought, Bill might be right. I went to Paco [Valcarcel, WBO president] and said, ‘Listen, I want to fight Canelo.’ I said, ‘I’m serious’. I beat him by being myself, I don’t have to do anything that isn’t in my character.”
