Could we see Terence Crawford move up and fight Canelo Alvarez in the near future? It's certainly possible, especially after both fighters have seemingly been receptive to the idea of a fight at 168 pounds. It would definitely be an epic way for Crawford to make history by not only becoming the first fighter to be undisputed champion in three different divisions, but do so by moving up three weight classes, defeating one of the greatest boxers of all time in Canelo Alvarez, and becoming a four-division champion in the process. There would not only be no further debate over him being the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world — if there still was any — but he'd also insert himself right into the conversation for being the greatest of all time.
Of course, there are many fighters who have fought across three weight classes. Manny Pacquiao is an eight-division champion after all. However, there are very few who have jumped directly from one weight class up three divisions for their next fight. So with that said, here are four fighters who have jumped up three weight classes in boxing just as Terence Crawford plans on doing against Canelo Alvarez.
Amanda Serrano
One of the greatest women's combat sports athletes of all time, let alone best boxers, Amanda Serrano's inclusion in this list should not be that surprising. After all, she's a seven-division world champion and the current undisputed featherweight champion.
However, back in Jan. 2018, she dropped down six divisions from super lightweight to battle Eva Voraberger for the WBO junior bantamweight title. The Puerto Rican star won with a first-round TKO before moving up three divisions to defeat Heather Hardy for the WBO featherweight title just eight months later.
Coincidentally, Serrano's last fight was earlier this month when she defeated Hardy in a rematch on the undercard of the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight. This time, however, she successfully defended all of her featherweight titles.
Natasha Jonas
Another female fighter on the list is Natasha Jonas. After getting outpointed by Katie Taylor in their undisputed lightweight title showdown in May 2021, the Briton would return to the win column with a unanimous decision win over Vaida Masiokaite just six months later.
Her next fight, however, would be all the way at super welterweight when she challenged Uruguay's Chris Namus for the vacant WBO title. Despite moving up three weight classes, Jonas would win with a second-round TKO and has since gone on to claim the WBC and IBF titles as well.
Nobuhiro Ishida
Unlike the previous two entries on this list, Nobuhiro Ishida didn't just move up three weight classes — he remarkably moved up four weight classes. But that's not all. The weight class he eventually fought in was none other than heavyweight. It's all the more impressive when you consider the Japanese boxer mainly fought at super welterweight for much of his career.
He eventually moved up to middleweight and lost both his attempts at becoming a world champion, including a knockout defeat to a certain Gennadiy Golovkin back in 2013 in their WBA and IBO title fight. Ishida would compete at 154 pounds one more time with a knockout of Elly Pangaribuan before making the move up to heavyweight in 2014 when he fought compatriot Kyotaro Fujimoto in Osaka, Japan.
He lost a unanimous decision, but would earn two wins in the weight class soon after before challenging Fujimoto in a rematch in 2015. This time, he lost in a split decision in what was his last professional boxing fight.
Lee McAllister
If you thought Ishida moving up four weight classes to heavyweight was impressive, Scottish boxer Lee McAllister wants you to hold his drink. “The Aberdeen Assassin” mainly competed in the weight classes between lightweight and super welterweight.
However, after winning the PBC International and Commonwealth titles super welterweight titles with a fifth-round stoppage win over Ishmael Tetteh in 2017, McAllister would remarkably move up as many as seven divisions to step in on short notice and fight Lee Kellet at heavyweight in 2018. To put that into context, that's like UFC star Conor McGregor moving up from 155 to heavyweight in back-to-back fights.
McAllister would get the victory on points before remaining at heavyweight to fight Danny Williams — one of the few men to have defeated Mike Tyson. McAllister would come out on top with a finish in the 10th round. He has since gone back to competing at welterweight and super welterweight and even at 40, continues to fight today as his most recent outing was a TKO win over Olaide Fijabi back in April for the vacant WBO intercontinental welterweight title.