Arum says Haymon told him Spence vs. Crawford happens in 2020

By Boxing News - 10/08/2019 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is optimistic that a unification fight between WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford and IBF/WBC champ Errol Spence Jr. will take place next year.

Arum says he spoke with Spence’s adviser Al Haymon, and he told him that the Crawford-Spence fight will be taking place in 2020.

Errol still has plenty of options with PBC fighters

Spence has at least two fights that he’ll likely want to get out of the way before he faces Crawford next year. Errol will be defending against Danny Garcia in January 2020, and then he would like to face Manny Pacquiao or Keith Thurman. Even if Pacquiao elects not to fight Spence, there’s still great fight opportunities for him next year against Thurman and Garcia.

There’s also a possibility of Spence fighting a rematch against Shawn Porter. Spence beat Porter by a 12 round split decision last month on September 28.  Some boxing fans saw Porter as the winner, which is a good thing for Spence. People want to see him fight Porter again, and that second fight could even bigger.

Arum eager for Crawford vs. Spence fight next year

“I hope we will see Crawford and Spence,” said Top Rank Boxing promoter Bob Arum on his social media site. “Last summer we met with Al Haymon to talk about the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder rematch, and brought up Crawford and Spence. Al indicated to me that we would do it in 2020. I think that’s a great fight, and a fight that everybody wants to see,” said Arum.

A fight between Spence and Crawford will be huge next year. With their combined fan bases, this is a match that could bring in over 1 million buys. Spence has been doing going good numbers on Fox Sports pay-per-view with his last two fights against Mikey Garcia and Porter. But Spence needs someone that is considered on his level like Crawford for him to break one million buys.

Porter and Mikey were seen as opponents that lacked the talent to beat Spence. Crawford vs. Spence would be an even money fight, and those are the type of matches that the boxing public gets excited about the most.

Spence and Crawford not helping themselves by fighting other guys says Arum

“I don’t think Crawford or Spence will do themselves any good in messing around with other opponents when the public wants to see two good guys fight, the promoters should get together and do it immediately,” said Arum.

“That was the case when Ray Leonard fought Tommy Hearns in a great memorable welterweight battle. And I think Crawford-Spence can be a great, memorable welterweight battle if we can get them in the ring really soon,” said Arum.

Arum is right about Crawford-Spence being similar to the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns match-up.