STWF Sports | Dec. 9, 2025 – For Terence “Bud” Crawford, 2025 has been more than a championship year—it has been a legacy year. The Nebraska native, already regarded as one of boxing’s finest technicians, now finds himself nominated for the BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year, an honor reserved only for those who transcend their sport. Winning it would place Crawford among the most influential figures boxing has ever known.
The nomination follows Crawford’s seismic victory over Canelo Alvarez in September, a triumph that shook boxing’s balance of power and pushed his career to unprecedented heights. By defeating Alvarez to become undisputed super-middleweight champion, Crawford earned more than another strap—he became the first male fighter in the four-belt era to be undisputed in three separate weight divisions. Super lightweight. Welterweight. Super-middleweight. Three divisions, one remarkable legacy.
It is the type of achievement that shifts boxing from debate to consensus. Crawford isn’t merely the hottest fighter in the sport—he is one of the greatest of this generation, period.
Now he stands in the running for one of international sports’ highest honors, one that has previously gone to legends like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Evander Holyfield. Few awards outside boxing carry this kind of historical weight, and fewer still connect a fighter directly to the icons whose names have shaped the sport.
Ali captured the award three times throughout the 1970s, before going on to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Century in 1999. Tyson was honored in 1989, when his aura of invincibility gripped the world. Holyfield earned the distinction in 1996, sharing it with sprinter Michael Johnson. No boxer has won since.
For Crawford, joining that company would not merely validate a remarkable year—it would place him inside boxing royalty.
A Global Field of Superstars
But this is not a coronation. Crawford faces five outstanding international athletes, each of whom dominated their sport in 2025.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, last year’s winner, returns after once again pushing pole vaulting into new dimensions. He cleared 6.30m in September, his 14th career world record—a staggering figure that defies historical precedent.
In football, Spain’s Mariona Caldentey earns her nomination after playing a pivotal role in Arsenal’s Women’s Champions League triumph. Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah enters the shortlist with his résumé overflowing—Premier League title champion, Player of the Season, Golden Boot winner, Playmaker of the Season, and a third PFA Player of the Year award.
Baseball’s global ambassador Shohei Ohtani continues rewriting the sport’s boundaries. The Dodgers superstar became the first MLB pitcher since 1942 to hit three home runs in a single game, reaffirming his status as one of the greatest two-way athletes the sport has ever seen.
Rounding out the nominees is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who has rewritten the rules of track and field. She became the first athlete ever to hold world titles in both the 400m hurdles and the 400m flat, cementing her position as perhaps the greatest female hurdler in history.
Crawford’s Moment Arrives
Every nominee has dominated, inspired, or innovated. But Crawford’s claim stands tall—his achievements have altered the architecture of modern boxing. Three undisputed crowns, each against elite competition, and a victory over one of the sport’s most revered champions.
On December 18, when the award is announced, Crawford will hope it signals the kind of recognition only reserved for the greatest names ever to step into a ring.
There is no doubt he belongs in that conversation. Now the world waits to see if his name will join the legends who came before him. This will catapult him to the next level of sports notoriety.
