Crawford warns Spence: “Don’t let the size fool you”

By Boxing News - 04/12/2018 - Comments

Image: Crawford warns Spence: “Don’t let the size fool you”

By Chris Williams: Former undisputed light welterweight champion Terence Crawford sent a warning message to IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (23-0, 20 KOs) on social media this week, letting him know that he should be fooled by his lack of size.

Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) wants to show Spence that he’s not going to be able to walk him down like many boxing fans think he will.

Right now, Spence and Crawford are in different lanes that ultimately keep them apart for a long, long time if not permanently. Crawford, 30, is with Bob Arum of Top Rank, while Spence is with Al Haymon. Those two rarely work with one another. Arum says he wants to match Crawford against Spence, but he also said for years that he wanted to match Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the fight didn’t happen until Filipino star was over-the-hill. I suspect we’ll see the same thing with Crawford. He won’t get the fight with Spence until he’s a shot fighter.

”Errol Spence Jr., let’s make that basketball bet 😁💲💲💲and whenever we fight, we’ll see how you’re going to box me, walk me down and who’s smarter. Don’t let the size fool you,” Crawford said on his Twitter.

Spence followed up with this reply:

”Bet we can set that game up right after our fights.”

I see Spence cutting off the ring on Crawford the way Jarrett Hurd cut off the ring on Erislandy Lara, and then take him out with body shots. Crawford doesn’t look when he’s pressured and forced to fight at a fast pace. He does not look good at all. I don’t think Crawford could beat Kell Brook, who is much bigger and stronger than him. I’d like to see Crawford fight some good welterweights to prove himself before he faces Spence, but unfortunately, he’s not likely to be matched up against anyone good.

Crawford is with Top Rank, and they tend to make a lot of in house fights that resemble old fashioned club fighting. Instead of Crawford fighting the other top welterweights, I think Top Rank will look to set him up with a rematch or two against Jeff Horn, and then match him up against Konstantin Ponomarev, who they also promote, and then try and match him against the soon to be 40-year-old Manny Pacquiao. I don’t see Crawford being matched against Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter or Keith Thurman. Those would be good fights, but I think the politics of boxing will prevent all those fights from ever happening.

Crawford might have to be satisfied fight with fighting Top Rank fighters and whoever that climbs the rankings in the World Boxing Organization’s top 15 that is interested in fighting a runner and switch hitter. It would be in Crawford’s best interest not use so much movement in his fights, because the contenders aren’t going to want to fight someone they’re going to need to chase, especially if he’s not a huge draw. Crawford’s priority should be to try and build a fan base, and the best way to do that is to mix it up with his opponents. Crawford has been too much of a slick mover, counter-puncher and switch hitter, and that’s not entertaining to watch for the casual boxing fans that want to see action. Some of the hardcore fans like to watch movers, but I’d most of them prefer action fighters like Gennady Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez, which is why those two guys have such large fan bases.

Spence really wants the Crawford fight, because he’s very confident that he’ll win it without any problem. There’s a huge size difference between Spence and Crawford unfortunately. Spence is a junior middleweight that fights at 147. Crawford is a former lightweight that has filled out and moved up to 140, and now to 147. Crawford isn’t going to be able to put on too much more size without slowing himself down in the process. Spence is used to sparring WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, who is a middleweight in size and much bigger, stronger and faster than Crawford. Spence is another weight class than Crawford in reality, and I don’t think it’ll be a good fight. Crawford is too frail, and he didn’t look good in taking shots against the short 5’5” Felix Diaz in the few times he was hit by him.

Crawford will be challenging Top Rank fighter Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) for his WBO welterweight title on June 9 on ESPN at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Crawford should have little problems beating Horn, but it might not be as easy as the victories he piled up while fighting at 140. I hate to say it but Crawford has never fought anyone good during his career that was in their prime. The only good fighter Crawford has fought during his career is former featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa, who was fighting two divisions above his natural weight class in the lightweight division when he fought Crawford in June 2014. Even then, Gamboa hurt Crawford and was getting the better of him until the 5th round.

I won’t be surprised if Crawford loses to Horn on June 9. This is a much bigger fighter than Crawford has ever fought before in a pro fight, and he’s not short, weak and slow like a lot of the guys Top Rank has matched Crawford against.

If Arum is smart, he’ll talk up the Crawford vs. Spence fight for years without making the fight. If Arum puts that fight together now, he could destroy Crawford’s career if Spence walks him down and knocks him out. Whatever fans that Crawford has now will likely jump overboard and become Spence’s fans, and there won’t be any coming back from the loss. It’ll be like Pacquiao. It’s been three years since he lost to Mayweather, and the fans he had are gone. Luckily for Pacquiao he didn’t lose his popularity until late in his career. If Crawford gets destroyed by Spence right now, he might be finished as a fighter in terms of popularity. I don’t know what Top Rank will do with Crawford at that point. He’s got three strikes against him as it is with him being a runner, counter puncher and a switch-hitter.