By Chris Williams: Jermell Charlo believes that Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence will have too much size for Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford when the two of them face each other shortly.
WBO welterweight champion Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum is eager to make the fight between the Nebraska native Bud and IBF/WBC 147-lb champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) in 2021, and he just needs to make sure crowds are allowed back by the time he puts the fight together.
Spence vs. Crawford is too big of a fight to stage it behind closed doors in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand conference room in Las Vegas, Nevada, the way that Arum has been doing this summer with his Top Rank fighters.
There’s just too much money that would be lost from the gate if Spence-Crawford took place without fans, and isn’t going to give up all that green.
Errol vs. Crawford possible in 2021
Spence and Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) would have fought in the fall of 2020 if not for the pandemic, says Arum, but things happen, and they’ve had to push it back.
“Errol Spence is a dominant fighter, he’s strong, he’s in the pocket the way he wants, he can move, he’s got feet,” said Jermell to Brian Custer’s Last Stand podcast. “Crawford has a great team.
“Just the size advantage [for Spence], I don’t see Crawford in a lengthy 12 round [fight] with Errol.”
Spence, 5’9 1/2″, is almost two inches taller than the 5’8″ Crawford, but he has a shorter reach by a couple of inches. However, the height doesn’t tell the whole story, unfortunately, seeing that Spence is a lot bigger, more powerful, and sturdy.
One can tell that Spence is the natural welterweight, whereas Crawford is a pumped-up lightweight that has added bulk to fight outside of his natural weight class of 135. That’s where Crawford should be challenging, but the paydays are probably better for him.
I say ‘probably’ because Crawford still hasn’t fought anyone good since he moved up to 147. Since moving up to 147 in 2018, Crawford has beaten these fighters:
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Amir Khan
- Jose Benavidez Jr
- Jeff Horn
As I was saying, Crawford STILL hasn’t beaten anyone good since he moved up to 147. Additionally, he’s starting to get up there in age at 32. Next month, Crawford will be turning 33 on September 28, and it’s a race against time for him to get the marketable fights before he loses his speed and reflexes and starts getting beaten.
Terence starting to age
Crawford is the type of fighter that wins with his speed and reflexes rather than his size and power game the way that Spence does. The guys that depend on his quickness to win, they don’t last as long as the pure sluggers, who have their power to carry them when they start losing what little speed that they. When counter punchers slow down, they start losing.
For example, George Foreman and Gennadiy Golovkin are two KO artists that weren’t blessed with hand speed and reflexes, and yet both of them have enjoyed long careers.
Spence’s size and his ruggedness are going to be a nightmare for Crawford when the two eventually fight, as it’s going to force Terence to use his feet to try and steal round.
Crawford won’t be able to stay in the pocket and punch with Spence the way he’s been doing against the lesser fighters that are promoters at Top Rank has been matching him against his entire 12-year pro career.
Heck, we saw what happened with Crawford when he tried to stand in the pocket and battle Egidijus Kavaliauskas in a toe-to-toe fight last December. Crawford got DROPPED on the seat of his pants and lucked out when the referee, who was asleep at the wheel, blew the call by ruling it a slip.
Fortunately, that blunder by the referee didn’t change the outcome of the contest, seeing that Crawford came back to knock out the little known Lithuanian fighter Kavaliauskas in the 9th round.
But before being KO’d by Terence, Kavaliauskas hurt him several times with big shots. If Kavaliauskas had a better chin and more talent, he might have knocked out Crawford, but he didn’t have the ability.
Kavaliauskas is the same fighter that was given a highly controversial 10 round draw against Ray Robinson last year in March. Robinson got the better of Kavaliauskas but found himself on the receiving end of a horrible 10 round draw.
Crawford vs. Kell Brook possible in 2020
Surprisingly, Arum still hasn’t found Crawford a fight in 2020, even though Yordenis Ugas, Kell Brook, and Shawn Porter have all volunteered to fight him. Porter said that Terence told him that they wouldn’t be able to compete this year.
Former IBF welterweight champion Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) now appears to be in the running for Crawford’s next fight, according to Arum.
“We are looking at having Terence fight Kell Brook,” said Arum to IFL TV. “I talked to the Brook people today, they know what the situation is and they’ll get back to us.
“They assure me that Brook has lost a lot of weight and is in tremendous condition.
“To do a Crawford-Brook fight is a lot easier because it would be a fight that we would be in the ‘bubble’ here in Las Vegas,” said Arum.
In the same interview, Arum mentioned that he’s still trying to negotiate a fight between Crawford and WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, but it appears it’s not happening.
It’s unclear why Arum is continually talking about wanting to make the Pacquiao vs. Crawford, as it was apparent years ago that the Filipino star has zero interest in fighting Crawford.
He’s not the only one that Pacquiao hasn’t shown a desire to fight. Spence is in the same boat. We saw that last year when Pacquiao attended Errol’s fight against Mikey Garcia in Arlington, Texas, in March 2019.
It was believed that the time that Pacquiao would enter the ring immediately after the Spence-Garcia fight and call out the winner. But when Spence ended up dominating the smallish 5’6″ Mikey, Pacquiao looked disinterested in fighting him, and the rest is history.
Instead of facing Spence in his next fight last year, Pacquiao chose the fading Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman and beat him by a 12 round split decision.
At this point in his career, Thurman looks like he’s just going through the motions, and fighting for the paychecks rather than the love for the sport.
It might be a good ideal for Arum to delay putting Crawford in with Spence for as long as possible because if he makes that fight now in 2021, he might not like what happens with to his guy Terence.
“It’s better for Arum to let the Spence vs. Crawford clash marinate for as long as possible before putting them in with each other. Spence-Crawford will be like Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao all over again.
Once Spence beats Crawford, boxing fans are going to be abandoning ship and wondering what they ever saw in Terence. The fans will figure out that Crawford was a product of careful match-making, and realize he never was as good as they thought he was.
Likewise, the pound-for-pound rankings by The Ring will need to be adjusted accordingly with Terence dropped off the list, and Spence put up at #1 or #2.
Brook is a risky fight for Crawford, and Arum may need to sit down and think hard before he makes this match. What Arum needs to do is take a long look at the opposition that he’s been feeding Crawford since 2008 and ask himself the question, ‘Would Brook have beaten everyone that Terence has fought up to this point?’ If the answer is a resounding yes, then he needs to reconsider letting Crawford fight Brook because he could get found out and exposed.