By Sean Jones: After 12 years as a professional, Terence Crawford is on the cusp of fighting his first highly talented opponent in Errol Spence Jr. The IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) revealed on social media on Wednesday that he will either be fighting WBO champion Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) in 2020 or 2021. It’s definitely going to happen.
At this point, you have to take what Spence says about the Crawford fight with a grain of salt. There are too many unknowns right now for the Spence-Crawford fight to take place in 2020 or 2021. They are as follows:
- Is Spence the same fighter after his car accident?
- Coronavirus – will it continue to be a serious threat to the world?
- Has success ruined Spence?
- Spence vs. Crawford – is it a big enough fight to make money?
This fight will at least answer the question of whether Crawford is as good people think he is or if he’s just a product of soft match-making by his experienced promoters at Top Rank. What do we know is Crawford never fought any of the elite level 140-pounders at light-welterweight.
Crawford left the division WITHOUT fighting Josh Taylor, Regis Prograis, Maurice Hooker or Jose Ramirez. At 147, Crawford’s best opponent he’s faced is arguably Egidijus Kavaliauskas, and he was dropped by him last December.
Errol Spence says Crawford fight will happen
Spence said on Crawford that it’s “either this year or next year. We going to fight, we going to fight. If we don’t fight this year, we’re definitely going to fight next year. It’s going to happen.”
It’ll be a good fight if it happens, but Spence might have too much for Crawford. Top Rank has done a good job steering Crawford around the good fighters, and he might not be ready for Spence.
Look at the guys Crawford has fought at 140 and 147:
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Amir Khan
- Jose Benavivez Jr.
- Jeff Horn
- Dierry Jean
- Julius Indongo
- Viktor Postol
- John Molina Jr.
- Felix Molina
- Henry Lundy
- Thomas Dulorme
None of those fighters are major players in their respective divisions, and they would be beaten by a lot of contenders and champions. You can say with certainty that light welterweight champions Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor would beat all those fighters with ease. We just don’t know how good Crawford is because his resume is so incredibly weak. The casual boxing fans haven’t studied Crawford’s resume to realize that his promoters at Top Rank have been putting him in with weaker opponents that lack talent.
“Everyone knows I was in a car accident. I’m feeling good, and I’m spending time with my family with the time I’ve been out of boxing,” said Spence to PBC on Fox in his first interview after his car crash. “My ribs were sore and my whole body was sore. I don’t remember too much about it. I’m fighting in May or June,” said Spence
