Super Welterweight Coming Up as Another Division to Watch Out For
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 26 Feb 2025
Remember the time when top names as Wilfred Benitez, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran moved up to the super welterweights, then known as the junior middleweight division, to resuscitate their fighting careers?
That was in the 1980s and even Sugar Ray Leonard made a brief pit stop at 154 lbs, knocking out Ayub Kalule in 1981 to win the WBA title before relinquishing it to get back down to the welterweights for high profile showdowns against Duran and Hearns.
Benitez actually was the first of the batch to move up to regain lost glory by beating Maurice Hope for the same WBA crown in 1981. The Puerto Rican youngest world boxing champion who achieved that distinction at junior welterweight lost his welterweight belt by last round stoppage to Leonard in 1979. Benitez defeated Duran in a title defense but lost the crown by decision to Hearns.
Hearns reigned undefeated at 154, even recording an early knockout of Duran in one of his title defenses. Duran resuscitated his career by winning the WBC junior middleweight championship by knockout over Davey Moore in 1984.
That episode made the division now known as super welterweight as among the most prominent and exciting in professional boxing giving rise to such then future iconic names as Julian Jackson, Mike "The Bodysnatcher" McCallum, John "The Beast" Mugabi and Terry Norris.
Well, it could be happening again.
Terrence Crawford, feeling lacking in deserving opposition after disposing off Errol Spence for the undisputed world welterweight championship, has moved up and won a world title at super welterweight beating tough Uzbek Israel Madrimov. Bud is currently WBA regular titlist and WBO interim titleholder.
Virgil Ortiz, unable to land a fight with Crawford at welterweight has moved up too, defeating Serhei Bohachuk for an interim world title. He resoundingly announced his full arrival recently by beating the same Madrimov more impressively in a title defense.
Will Errol Spence and Jaron Ennis, also unable to land a bout with Crawford at welterweight, not be far behind?
However, Crawford, the object of their pursuit, is scheduled to challenge Saul Canelo Alvarez two divisions up at super middleweight later this year but that is dependent on Canelo winning his unification fight against current IBF titlist Michael Scull in May. That could prompt Crawford to take an interim fight. Which could be against any of Spence who has been batting for a rematch at 154 lbs, Ortiz or Ennis should either of the two decides to move up. But considering that Canelo is his main target this year, Terrence may not risk an interim fight against any of those three.
However, there's plenty to go around by way of viable opponents at 154 lbs. Not just for Crawford but for his ardent pursuers.
There's IBF titlist Bakhram Murtazaliev, unified WBC-WBO champion Sebastian Fundora and former world titleholder Tim Tszyu to start with. WBA champion in recess Jermell Charlo is undefeated and could be back to action anytime soon after recuperating from injuries.
And then, there's Ericsson Lubin, Bohachuk, Madrimov and two youthful super welterweight fighters fast making names for themselves-- Puerto Rico's exciting Xander Zayas and Nikita Tszyu, Tim's younger brother.
Crawford may opt for lower risk opponent like Bohachuk or Josh Kelly as a tune up for Canelo.
But if Ortiz and Spence or Ennis hopefully soon are to make deeper impressions at super welterweight, they may have to prove themselves against the elite likes of Fundora, Murtazaliev, Charlo or at least Tim Tszyu or Lubin.
In any case, those are matches that would make the super welterweight as another division to watch out for this 2025.
We have too much sushi in the divisions below the featherweights but the main Japanese course is also much awaited between Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani within the year.
The lightweights have recently gotten more exciting with ex Olympian Keyshawn Davis becoming world champion, thus joining Shakur Stevenson in the Tank Davis sweepstake.
The heavyweights have also produced new viable challenger to Oleksander Usyk with Agit Kabayel crowding Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker.
We will most likely have a trilogy between Dmitry Bivol and Arthur Beterbiev for the undisputed world light heavyweight championship before the year is over.
Potentially, we may have the super welterweights competing for the attention of boxing batty fans around the world regardless of whether Crawford win or lose against Canelo later this year. Most likely Crawford will return to 154 and that would only assure stiffer, more thrilling competition in the weight class.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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