Errol Spence talks Canelo and Crawford, wants both fights

By Boxing News - 11/20/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Errol Spence Jr wants Terence Crawford, Manny Pacquiao, and Canelo Alvarez in big fights if possible. The first order of business for IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) is to take care of Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia on December 5th on Fox Sports pay-per-view at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Errol would like to fight WBO welterweight champion Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), but his recent comments this week are a little disturbing.

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Crawford said he doesn’t need Spence for his legacy, and he’s the one that needs the fight more than. Spence said that if Crawford feels this way, they won’t fight. So, it sounds like Crawford is talking himself out of the fight for whatever reason. Is it fear? Could be.

Spence says he’s highly interested in fighting Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) at 150, and he believes this is a doable fight.

According to Spence, if Jermall Charlo can make 160, then Canelo can too. The 6’0″ Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs) is a huge fighter after he rehydrates for his middleweight fights.

If Canelo wants the money and the prestige that comes with fighting a talented boxer like Spence, he’ll find a way to get back down to 160.

There’s no doubt that a fight between Spence and Alvarez will attract a lot more interest in the U.S than Canelo’s next fight against British fighter Callum Smith on December 19th.

That’s a fight that UK fans will be excited about, but the U.S casual fans will be like, ‘Who is Callum?’

Spence ready for Pacquiao and Crawford

“My message to the rest of the division is just line ’em up,” said Spence when asked if he’s interested in fighting Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford.

“They who to talk to. Our person to talk to is Al Haymon. They have one person to talk to so that we can get this fight on the road. They already know after I put this great show on December 5th. Whoever else is in my way, let’s get it,” said Errol.

Well, Manny Pacquiao isn’t a fight that can be made anytime soon.

Pacquiao has made no mention of wanting to get back in the ring, and if and when he does, he’ll likely take a tune-up level fight against Mikey Garcia. That’s easy money for Pacquiao.

Spence already saw first hand that Pacquiao has no interest in fighting him when he called the Filpino star out last year after his win over Mikey.

Although Pacquiao appeared to show a slight interest in fighting Spence, he instead opted to fight Keith Thurman.

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With Crawford, you don’t know what’s going through his head. His resume is littered with secondary fighters and fringe contenders. He might not fancy the idea of fighting Spence, and who can blame him?

Crawford didn’t look good against the over-the-hill Kell Brook last Saturday night in Las Vegas, and that was against a fighter four years past his prime.

Terence’s recent comments about wanting a 50-50 deal for the Spence could be the last straw. If Crawford, 33, digs and stubbornly resists coming down in price to the 60-40 offer that Spence has given him, we probably won’t get a fight.

What it boils down to is which of the two fighters is the proven pay-per-view attraction? Is that Crawford? Nope. His two fights on pay-per-view against Viktor Postol and Amir Khan did horrible numbers.

In contrast, Spence’s PPV fights against Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia did quite well, showing that he’s now a legitimate pay-per-view attract.

Spence’s next fight against Danny Garcia on December 5th is on Fox Sports PBC pay-per-view. Crawford’s fight last weekend against Brook was on regular ESPN, which tells you all you need to know when comparing the Omaha, Nebraska native to Spence.

Errol reacts to Terence’s comments

“I’m ready to put on a great show for my fans on December 5th,” Spence said. “If he’s not worried about me, then there’s no reason to fight. He needs to keep my name out of his mouth,” said Spence when told that Crawford said that he doesn’t need to fight him for his legacy.

“That’s a tougher fight, him and Bob [Arum]. It could be. I never had a promoter,” said Spence when asked if it’ll be easier to make a fight with Crawford if he signs with PBC.

Crawford’s comments about Spence needing him more than he needs him are textbook signs that he’s not interested in. When someone drops that line on you, for whatever reason, they’re letting you know they’re not interested.

From this point on, Spence shouldn’t waste his time with Crawford. If he mentions Spence’s name, you can argue that it might be to name-drop to pick up popularity the easy way without taking a risk.

Spence needs to focus on serious targets like a rematch with Shawn Porter and fights against Keith Thurman, Pacquiao, and Yordenis Ugas.

If the young upstart Teofimo Lopez wants to come up to 147 and take a risk, he’d be a good option for Spence. But that’s a big IF because Lopez might not be ambitious enough to want to get in the ring with Spence.

The fact that Teofimo isn’t showing interest in fighting a rematch with Vasily Lomachenko screams out that he’s worried about losing to the Ukrainian fighter once he’s 100%.

As far as Crawford goes, his comments this week are the classic type that comes from a fighter who doesn’t want Spence’s smoke. If Spence puts a lot of energy into setting up a fight with Crawford, he’ll wind up frustrated when he ends up empty-handed months later.

Right now, Spence needs to work on negotiating with fighters that he knows won’t be a problem for him.

Spence has already missed an entire year of his career with his car crash and the pandemic. Does he really need to invest a huge amount of time trying to set up a fight with Crawford?

Unless Terence comes right and starts whistling a different tune, Spence should put him on ignore and focus on fights that his management can negotiate quickly without game-playing.

Canelo fight can happen at 160, says Errol

“It’s something that can happen at 160,” said Spence about a fight between him and Canelo Alvarez. “I feel like 160 at Cowboy’s Stadium with 100,000 fans.

“That’s a great fight, and it can happen. I got to get past Danny Garcia first, though. That’s the guy I’m focused on, but I feel like the fight [with Canelo] can happen at 160, though.

“Definitely, I feel like that fight can happen. He said 160. If Jermall Charlo can get down to 160, he can get down to 160,” Spence said.

Canelo will need to want the fight with Spence to be willing to trim down to 160 to make it possible.

If Canelo chooses to play A-side and tell Spence he’s got to come up to 168 to fight him; it would mean that he doesn’t fancy the match-up enough for him to sacrifice.

Spence would be moving up two divisions to fight Canelo if they fought at 160. You can’t ask Spence to come up three weight classes without making it plainly obvious that you want no part of fighting him.

If Canelo’s fights against Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and Caleb Plant fail to attract interest with the U.S boxing public, I think he’ll have a change of mind about wanting to get down to 160.

Spence: Kell Brook needs to retire

“I think he looked the same,” Errol said about Crawford in how he looked against Kell Brook last Saturday. “And I feel like Kell Brook needs to retire.

“I feel like his eyes aren’t holding up. He started rubbing it and touching it starting in the second round. I don’t want to see anybody go blind or anything like that. So he needs to hang it up,” said Spence.

It’s pretty clear that Brook, 34, is at the end of his career. When you start getting knocked out by jabs from Crawford, that says it all. Brook used to take major shots without getting hurt, as we saw in his fights with Porter, Spence, and Golovkin.

If Brook is going to fight again, he needs to aim towards his long-awaited clash against fellow Brit Amir Khan. Fat chance that fight happens.

Khan has shown zero interest in taking on Brook for over ten years, and that’s not likely to change. Lately, Khan is sounding like he’s out of touch with reality with him still talking about wanting to get a fight against Pacquiao.

That’s not going to happen. If Brook’s only hope for one last payday is a fight against Khan, he should retire.

Beating Danny Garcia will be a “huge accomplishment”

“It’ll be more significant because of what I went through and my accident. It’ll be more impactful,” said Spence about what a win over Danny Garcia will mean to him.

“He’s still a great fighter and a great name. It’s great for my resume. After my accident and a year off, that’ll be huge for me.

“A huge accomplishment for myself and my greatest victory,” said Spence on a win over Danny Garcia.

Given the car crash and the 12 months that Spence has been out of the ring, a victory over former two-division world champion Danny ‘Swift’ will be a tremendous victory on December 5th.

Garcia, 32, is an excellent pelt for Spence to add to his collection, and he’ll gain a lot of respect if he knocks him out. What Spence needs is an impressive showing from start to finish.

So instead of looking poor the way Crawford did in the first three rounds against Brook, Spence has to jump on Garcia early and show that he’s clearly the better fighter of the two.

Errol can’t give Danny hope by starting slow and not doing what he needs to do.

Many boxing fans feel that Spence’s car crash has ruined him physically, so they’re expecting him to struggle.

Some fans even think Garcia will knockout Spence and finish him as a major player in the 147lb division. So Spence must prove to the doubters that he is the same fighter he once was and get rid of Garcia without issues.

Spence needs a better performance than what we’ve seen from him in his last couple of bouts against little Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter. In both of those fights, Spence fought down to his competition by choosing to fight their style.

Spence shouldn’t make a habit of doing that because he can’t impress if he’s taking it easy on his opposition to making it interesting.