Terence Crawford won his third ESPY Award for Best Fighter after his victory over Canelo Alvarez last September, adding another major line to a resume that already made him the first boxer to claim undisputed championships in three divisions during the four-belt era. The award came after Crawford fought only once in the eligibility period, a detail that sits at the center of the debate now surrounding his latest honor.
That debate matters because the ESPYs are meant to recognize what athletes did in the previous year, not to hand out lifetime awards. selects the nominees before turning the final vote over to fans, which leaves the last judgment to public sentiment after the shortlist is set. In this case, that process rewarded a single defining night, and Supporters of Crawford say the scale of beating Canelo Alvarez should outweigh concerns about activity or style.
Others see it differently. Fans remain split over whether the Best Fighter honor should go to the boxer with the biggest victory or the one with the strongest overall year, and some argued that Crawford's win was not among the most entertaining performances of the year. They pointed to other top fighters who stayed busier and delivered more action-packed work against high-level opposition, saying that should have carried more weight than one monumental result. The argument has also spilled into the wider boxing conversation, where a separate discussion about Crawford's place among greats has stayed active in recent weeks.
What has never published is the part that would settle the fight: a formula showing how it weighs a single major victory against activity, entertainment value and broader résumé. Until that changes, the Best Fighter award will keep producing the same kind of split verdict that followed Crawford's win — a celebration of one night for some, and a reminder to others that the year-long body of work was never clearly measured.
