Terence Crawford’s foray into the welterweight division could get an official announcement very soon with reports coming out of the camp of WBO champion Jeff Horn agreeing in principle to a deal to have Crawford challenge for the WBO belt later this spring.
According to reports, the deal would have Crawford, the mandatory challenger for the WBO welterweight title, fight Horn the belt on April 21 in Las Vegas, headlining another Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card. Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton told AAP he was satisfied with the renegotiated purse and said all there was left to do was sign the contracts.
“As far as we’re concerned, it’s pretty much a deal. But no deal’s done until it’s done, so we just have to cross t’s, dot i’s and actually get this thing locked down. We have certainly agreed on all the key terms and from our side, it’s a go. Now Bob (Arum)’s got to tidy up some loose ends. We have total confidence in Bob and Top Rank that he’ll get this all locked up and we’ll have a contract in our hands by the end of next week,” Rushton said.
Horn recently retained his title by defeating Gary Corcoran back in December. It was Horn's first title defense since defeating Manny Pacquiao this past summer. Horn's camp was initially considering fighting Australian Anthony Mundine next instead of Crawford, but a fight with Mundine seemed unlikely.
Crawford last fought in August, unifying all four world titles in the junior welterweight division. Crawford would then soon vacate his titles to move up in weight and was automatically named as the WBO's mandatory challenger.
