Bob Arum Trying To Make Historic Light Welterweight Unification Bout Happen

Now that unified light welterweight champion Terence Crawford has beaten all challengers for his title, there’s one other boxer in the division that is on level and wants to fight Crawford: Julius Indongo, the other unified champion at light welterweight.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told ESPN that Indongo wants to fight Crawford in a unification bout. Indongo was at Madison Square Garden alongside promoter Nestor Tobias to watch Crawford’s May 20 title defense against Felix Diaz.

"Indongo wants the fight and we want to make the fight," Arum said. "(Tobias) wants to make the fight and (Matchroom Boxing promoter) Eddie (Hearn), who has an option on his next fight, will cooperate."

Arum said he hopes to talk to the governing bodies and convince them to forgo any mandatory challenges either boxer has in favor of unifying all four major world title belts. Indongo does have a mandatory title defense against Sergey Lipinets.

"First, I want to make the fight, get it done; then we'll figure out where it will be. But we are looking at the end of July, beginning of August. I think the chances are very good," Arum said. "We'll go to all the organizations and tell them to quit f—ing around with the mandatories, and let's make history and unify all the titles. Crawford's gonna fight this summer. If we can get the fight for the unification (against Indongo), that's fine. But he's gonna fight this summer."

Should the unification fight happen, this would be the first time in light welterweight history that all four belts would be on the line in one fight since the four-belt era began in the 1980s.

Crawford successfully defended his title against Diaz, while Burns also won his lone fight of 2017, a unanimous decision victory over Ricky Burns.

Crawford currently holds the WBC and WBO light welterweight titles and Burns holds the IBF, IBO and WBA championships. Both fighters are undefeated as professional boxers.