By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford could now be the biggest fight in boxing given the recent losses defeats suffered by heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. WBO welterweight champion Crawford (36-0, 27 K.O.s) believes his future unification fight with IBF/WBC champion Spence (26-0, 21 K.O.s) is the clash that fans want to see.
The fight to make is Spence vs. Crawford once the sport restarts this year. Spence would need to be willing to take the match without a tune-up, and that’s where we could have a problem. He hasn’t fought since his car crash on October 10, and no one knows whether the unbeaten champion is still the same physically.
While there’s a lot of interest in a clash between heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, that’s a fight that resonates in the United Kingdom rather than in the U.S. Fury and Joshua have some fans in the U.S., but not at the level of Spence and Crawford for apparent reasons.
Those two are from the U.K., and they haven’t fought enough in the U.S. to become household names. Joshua has fought just one time in the U.S. against Andy Ruiz Jr. in losing by a 7th round knockout. For his part, Fury has fought only four times in the U.S.
Crawford willing to fight behind closed doors
“When the world gets back it’s normalcy, we’re going to do our thing,” said Crawford to DAZN. “I’m not anxious, but I’m ready [to get back into the ring]. I train every day. Give it six weeks; I’d most likely be prepared.
“You’re one of those big stars, Terence, where when you fight, you draw pretty big crowds out there,” said Chris Mannix. “There’s a lot of talk about boxing when it comes back, I’ll first come back with fights behind closed doors and with no crowds.
How do you feel about that? If we brought a fight to you, there would be no crowd there, how would you react to that?”
Crawford: “I haven’t heard about that yet, but that the same time if it were to happen, they’d have to pay me more. They would have to pay me more because fighters of my status and on my level, we get paid for the people that are coming there as well. If I can’t get paid for the people that are coming [from the gate], then I have to be paid upfront.”
It’s doubtful that Top Rank will pay Crawford more money to fight behind closed doors in a studio setting. Where would that extra money come from? Unless Top Rank is willing to package Crawford’s fights with undercard fighters that are willing to be paid very little, it’s hard to figure out where the extra money would come from to satisfy Terence.
This isn’t exactly the best time for Crawford to be asking for more money when the sport restarts because there’s going to be a lot of unknowns. Depending on how long boxing is shut down, we don’t know how many people will tune in to watch fights on television.
Terence could wait until crowds come back
Mannix: “If they couldn’t pay you more, would you be comfortable sitting out for as long as it takes to get people back into these buildings?”
Crawford: “Sure. You got to pay me to go up there and do what I do because it isn’t free. It’s like you have to pay people for doing anything else in the world. You have to pay us fighters because we’re taking a big risk and a big health risk at the same time. You can’t play boxing. One false move, and you can be six feet.”
Mannix: “Would you be willing to sit out the entire year if it meant no fans in the stands?”
Crawford: “Well, like I said, if that’s what we got to do, then that’s what we got to do. I know us fighters don’t want to do that, but if that’s what it came to, then if it has to happen, it has to happen.”
It will be a shame if Crawford chooses to stall out his career if he doesn’t get the extra money that he wants to fight behind closed doors. Some of the disease specialists arent sure when the current pandemic will end.
While some are hoping a vaccine will be developed in 12 to 18 months, others believe this could be a problem that could last four years or more. If Crawford is still waiting around for the crowds to come back before he begins fighting again, he could be waiting a long time.
Crawford warned Spence what’s in store for him
Mannix: “Errol Spence said you guys talk. How often do you guys talk to each other?”
Crawford: “I wouldn’t say we talk like that, but I hit him up a couple of times. We got on Face Time and spoke briefly. It was just us talking about making the fight. That’s pretty much it. I told him I was going to f*** him up. It’s real.
“I truly feel that when it comes time for us to fight, I’m going to f*** him up, and he feels the same way. That’s what makes for a great fight. You’ve got two top welterweights in the division, telling the media that they’re going to f*** one up. So let’s see who’s telling the truth.”
The Spence that defeated Shawn Porter last September is going to be a lot of trouble for Crawford, as he’s not fought anyone like during his 12-year pro career. You can’t look at Crawford’s weak resume and know for sure how he’ll do against a talented fighter like Spence and Porter.
We know that Crawford is capable of beating fighters like Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, and Jeff Horn, but those aren’t elite guys. Up until now, Crawford has been tune-up level opponents throughout his career, and there’s no one that you point to say, ‘Yeah, that’s a quality guy.’
Spence vs. Crawford, the biggest fight in boxing?
Mannix: “The last time we spoke, Terence. We said that Fox, PBC, and ESPN are working together. So if they’re working together for Fury and Wilder, why can’t they work together for us? Fury-Wilder did well, but it didn’t reach the 2 million number that Bob Arum was looking for. The big, big number. Knowing what the Fury-Wilder fight did, do you think it did enough to get those two groups together?”
Crawford: “You’ve got to think. The two biggest fights in boxing before Anthony Joshua lost was Deontay Wilder against Joshua and Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence. Those were the two biggest fights to be made. I’m not taking anything away from Wilder and Fury.
“I felt Spence vs. Crawford was a way bigger fight than Fury-Wilder. That’s just my opinion. He [Spence] fought right in front of me. I tapped him, ‘See.’ I had to let him know that it’s going to be us. He was like, ‘Man, I’m going to wash you.’ ‘Yeah, you got to enter the arena to do that first.’ It’s just a little joke between us,” said Crawford.
Spence vs. Crawford might well be the biggest fight in boxing. If not, then it’s the biggest in the U.S. Fury, and Joshua isn’t going to do it. They haven’t fought in the U.S. enough, and Joshua looked woefully bad in losing to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019 in New York.
