By Jim Maltzman: Terence Crawford is already targeting the winner of the December 5th fight between Errol Spence Jr vs. Danny Garcia as his plan-B option if he doesn’t get a unification match against WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao.
WBO 147-pound champion Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) still needs to win his fight this Saturday night against Kell Brook before he can look to face Pacquiao or the Spence-Garcia winner.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) says he’s in the best shape of his life, and he’s ready to “shock the world” on Saturday when he challenges Crawford in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Crawford vs. Brook will be televised on ESPN.
Interestingly, Crawford overlooks the threat that former IBF welterweight champion Brook brings to the table for this fight.
If you could transport both fighters in the past to 2016 or 2017, that version of Brook would likely be a heavy favorite to defeat Crawford.
The Brook that fought Golovkin and Spence would likely be too big, too strong, and too sturdy for a small-boned welterweight like Crawford to deal with. Brook’s size advantage would be too much for Crawford.
But we don’t know how much Brook has lost from age, inability, and the punishment he took against Spence and GGG.
Crawford predicts problems for Spence
“May the better man win, which I think is me,” said Crawford to Yahoo Sports News. “I favor Spence to get past [Danny] Garcia, but I don’t think it’ll be any walk in the park.
“Danny is a tremendous talent, and he’s strong, he’s durable, and he can punch, and he can box. So it’s going to be interesting seeing how Spence is going to take these big shots that Danny is going to be hitting him with if he hits him,” said Crawford.
“We seen Shawn Porter land some heavy shots on Spence, and in my heart, Danny Garcia hits harder than Shawn Porter.
“If Danny lands those types of shots on Spence as Shawn Porter did, we’re going to have an exciting fight to watch,” Crawford said.
It would be good for Crawford if Danny Garcia beats Spence because that would remove a large thorn out of the heel of the Nebraska native. Spence’s size, power, and chin make him a bad style match-up for Crawford, as he started his career at 135.
Spence is even more of a problem for Crawford than Brook. That’s why it’s better for Crawford if Garcia beats Spence and gets him out of his hair. Spence has learned his lesson not to fight down to his opponent’s level as we saw from him against Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter.
If Spence continues to make that mistake, he’s going to get beaten sooner or later. Additionally, Spence will shorten his career with the punishment he takes in fighting down to his opponents’ level.
Against Garcia, Spence will likely play it smart and use his boxing skills to win an easy 12 round decision.
Terence wants Pacquiao next after Brook
“If the Pacquiao fight doesn’t pull through, then that would be a fight that I’d look forward to,” Crawford said of facing the winner of the Spence vs. Garcia fight.
“I don’t really care about that given the circumstances that he just fought and just beat,” Crawford said when asked if it bothers him that Pacquiao is about to turn 42 and hasn’t fought in 16 months.
“He just fought Keith Thurman and looked tremendous against Keith Thurman,” Crawford said of Pacquiao.
“He fought [Adrien] Broner and looked tremendous against Broner. Those are two top welterweights in the division.
“Manny looked great. He has a title, and that’s what makes a fight between me and Errol Spence bigger than it would be without fighting him first.
“It would be for the undisputed, and it would be the passing of the torch from Manny Pacquiao to Terence Crawford. It’s so much at stake for that fight.
“As I said, I’ve been calling for that fight [against Pacquiao] since 2015. It hasn’t happened yet. It’s still a possible chance that it could happen because wait and see.
“First things first, Kell Brook is the guy that is trying to stop all my plans. We’re 100% focused on Kell Brook right now,” said Crawford.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Crawford both keep talking about the fight with Pacquiao potentially happening, but there’s no sign of that taking place. It sounds more like a useless pipe dream on their part.
At this point, even Spence has little chance of getting a fight against Pacquiao. The two fighters that do have a shot at facing Pacquiao before he hangs up his gloves are Mikey Garcia and Danny Garcia.
Former UFC star Conor McGregor is another guy that could get a fight against Pacquiao. McGregor doesn’t count as being a boxer, though. The fighters that Crawford has a good chance of fighting are these guys:
- Errol Spence Jr
- Shawn Porter
- Jose Ramirez
- Josh Taylor
If Crawford leaves Top Rank when his contract expires, he’ll have a chance of fighting some of the PBC welterweights, but it’s not a certainty.
If Crawford loses to Brook, he might as well stay with Top Rank. He won’t get any of the PBC fighters to face him if he loses his WBO title and his unbeaten record.