Travis Crawford retired from boxing at just 22 years old on Saturday night.
The 7-5 super featherweight, who is not related to Terence Crawford, fought Mohammed Alakel on the undercard of his fight with Canelo Alvarez.
Crawford gave a good account of himself, but ultimately slumped to defeat against the 6-0 prospect.
Pre-fight, it was confirmed that Crawford would retire, win or lose, against his Saudi Arabian opponent.
- LATEST NEWS: Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford hit by controversy as fighter furiously reacts to early stoppage
Travis Crawford retires
Travis Crawford has retired from boxing to pursue a dramatic career change.
He will join the US Army on September 30, when he is due to start basic training.
The shock career switch was confirmed by Crawford ahead of his late-notice retirement fight.
Pre-fight, the retirement was relayed to fans who tuned in to watch the Canelo vs. Crawford undercard fight on Netflix, which attracted 65 million people to their platform when Jake Paul fought Mike Tyson in November 2024.
Crawford was outboxed for the vast majority of his final fight, but he did enjoy some late success.
Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, and he suffered a unanimous decision (99-91, 99-91, and 98-92) defeat after 10 rounds of action.
Undercard controversy
Canelo vs Crawford was marred by controversy after a referee stopped an undercard fight way too early.
2024 Olympic silver medalist Marco Verde improved his perfect professional boxing record to 3-0 with a fourth-round TKO win over Sona Akale (9-4).
The 23-year-old scored a knockdown in round two and appeared to be on his way to a routine win.
Unfortunately, his victory was somewhat spoiled when the referee stepped in without cause.
Akale ate a body shot and a straight left hand before the fight was inexplicably stopped.
The 37-year-old didn’t appear to be hurt at all, but the referee decided he shouldn’t continue.
Akale reacted by saying: “Oh my god. What are you doing? What is that?”
Verde’s opponent angrily stormed around the ring protesting the premature stoppage.
Many fans agreed with his reaction, taking to social media to slam the referee for his early intervention.