Here's Why Terence Crawford is the 2025 Fighter of the Year

Despite having fought  only once in 2025, Terence Crawford’s achievement In September in defeating another generational champion was so monumental that his lack of activity hardly mattered. Crawford's unanimous decision victory over global superstar and undisputed super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez was the most historically significant moment of the 2025 boxing year. And winning the sport’s biggest event, makes Crawford the 2025 Fighter of the Year.

Crawford entered the Canelo showdown after a 13-month layoff, having last competed when he moved up to junior middleweight and decisioned Israil Madrimov to capture the WBA title in one of the most difficult fights of his career. His narrow win fueled skepticism with many questioneing whether Crawford, already climbing weight classes, could realistically move up two more divisions to face Alvarez — a dominant champion and future Hall of Famer who had ruled the 168-pound division for years.

That is until Crawford got his hands on Canelo.

The matchup took more than a year to materialize and ultimately came together through the influence of Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, whose massive investment in boxing made the fight financially irresistible. Still, when Crawford finally stepped into the ring on September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, he did so as the decisive underdog.

The setting matched the magnitude of the moment. The bout headlined the first boxing event at the domed football home of the Las Vegas Raiders. It drew a sold-out crowd of 70,482 fans — the third-largest indoor boxing attendance in U.S. history. Streamed globally on Netflix, the event carried enormous hype.

What followed exceeded it.

Crawford, the smaller man on paper, delivered a masterclass. Over 12 rounds, he outmaneuvered and tactically frustrated Alvarez, even forcing the champion onto the back foot in the later rounds. By the final bell, Crawford was landing clean, authoritative shots as he closed the fight in control. The judges awarded him a unanimous decision by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, cementing one of the biggest upsets in modern boxing.

Crawford went to his knees in the middle of the ring at the reading of the cards with the crown jewel to punctuate his great career.

Later, Crawford was calm, but resolute in his assessment of the moment. He explained that the victory surprised the public, not himself. He had always believed in his ability; he simply needed the opportunity. For Crawford, moving up two weight classes as the B-side opponent to defeat an undefeated, undisputed champion made the win especially meaningful.

At 38 years old, Crawford improved to 42-0 with 31 knockouts and stripped Alvarez of a world title for the first time in a decade. In doing so, he became a five-division world champion, the first male fighter to be undisputed in three weight classes in the multi-belt era, and only the third boxer ever — alongside Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao — to be a four-division lineal world champion.

Crawford has since announced his retirement in December and it will remain to be seen if that holds.

What is confirmed was a legacy-defining triumph in September that reaffirmed Crawford as one of the greatest fighters of his generation and made him the 2025 Fighter of the Year.