Is Spence waiting until Crawford is old before fighting him?

By Boxing News - 09/12/2020 - Comments

By Barry Holbrook: Errol Spence Jr has been saying that he wants to Terence Crawford for years now, but it’s beginning to look like he’s aging the 32-year-old Nebraska native intentionally.

What we don’t want is Crawford coming out into center ring, gray-haired, toothless, aided by a walker by the time Spence agrees to fight him in the next century.

It’s one of those situations where Spence must get this fight done before he moves up to 154, which he plans on doing soon. He wants to take Danny Garcia and Manny Pacquiao’s scalps, and then Crawford at some point.

Does Spence want the Crawford fight?

We don’t know how severe Spence is about wanting to fight Crawford, though. Crawford has been transparent all along that he wants the match with Spence, but it’s not been happening from the Texas native’s side.

Is that Spence’s fault or his management at Premier Boxing Champions? You can argue that if Spence were firm with his PBC bosses, they’d give him what he wanted by matching him against Crawford.

Image: Is Spence waiting until Crawford is old before fighting him?

One gets the impression that Spence has been lackadaisical when it comes to the Crawford fight, so his management at PBC has chosen to make the fights that they wanted Errol to take. Namely, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, and Lamont Peterson.

Spence’s next two fights appear to be booked, with him facing challenger Danny Garcia on November 21, and then likely the new WBC mandatory Shawn Porter. The World Boxing Council is expected to order Spence to defend against Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) immediately after his defense against Danny Swift (36-2, 21 KOs).

Errol already beat Porter, 32, by a 12 round split decision last September, and there’s not a lot of fans that are asking for a quick rematch. The fans want to watch Spence defend against Crawford while he’s still in his prime.

Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) is turning 33 this month on September 28, and he’s already beginning to shown signs of slippage from his last two fights against Egidijus Kavaliauskas and amir Khan.

Kell Brook next for Bud

If Crawford is forced to wait another year or two to face Spence, he might have physically deteriorated to the point where he’ll be easy pickings for the IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs).

Image: Is Spence waiting until Crawford is old before fighting him?

Spence just barely got by Porter, beating him by the scores 116-111, 116-111 for Errol, and 115-1112 for Shawn. The way that Spence looked in that fight, he’s going to be in for a grueling affair if he faces Crawford soon.

Top Rank Boxing, the promoters for Crawford, is in negotiations to have him defend against former IBF 147-pound champion Kell’ Special One’ Brook in November. They’ve already offered Brook $1.5 million, which was declined. In the last news n the Crawford vs. Brook negotiations, the offer has been increased to $2 million.

Whether that’s enough to get Brook to agree to the fight is unknown. He might want more, but there’s a good chance that Top Rank will be able to get this fight done. They’re working with Brook’s promoters at Matchroom Boxing, who are going to do everything they can try and get the war made.

Crawford is supposed to beat the 34-year-old Brook (39-2, 27 KOs), but there’s no way of knowing for sure if he’ll be able to do that. As bad as Crawford fought against Khan and the ‘Mean Machine’ in his last two fights, Brook has a pretty good chance against him.

Terence hasn’t got much more time

When age starts kicking in, as it is with Crawford, anything is possible. Guys that would have assumed that Terence would have beaten years ago are now toss-up fights. That’s why you want Spence to hurry it along and face Crawford before ages out wholly. 32 isn’t old for a non-athlete in a regular job.

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For a boxer, 32 is like someone well into their 40s, which is why most fighters are no longer elite by the time they hit that age. The super talented ones can fight into their 30s, and on rare occasions, into their 40s.

In Crawford’s case, he’s not someone that is going to be able to do this for too much longer. His game is based on speed and reflexes rather than size and power. Those types of fighters lose it quickly once their speed is gone.