By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford said last Saturday night that Errol Spence Jr is “history” and that “fight” is behind him now in what was clear that he’s no longer interested in facing him.
The two welterweight champions were at ringside for the Vergil Ortiz Jr vs. Maurice Hooker fight at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
The fans still want to see IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence Jr (27-0, 21 KOs) and WBO champion Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) fight, but it doesn’t look like it’s a situation that is tenable at this point, at least from Terence’s side.
Vergil Ortiz may take Crawford out of play
Ultimately, it may not matter that Crawford is being stubborn and dragging his feet over a unification fight with Spence. Crawford is about to turn 34, and that isn’t young for a welterweight.
Moreover, Vergil Ortiz Jr called Crawford out in front of the entire world last Saturday, and if he takes that fight, he may lose.
Once Crawford loses to Ortiz, the Spence fight will no longer matter. The Top Rank fighter Crawford will be history, and the fight that the boxing world will be eager to see is Spence vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Interestingly, when Spence was asked last Saturday night during the Ortiz-Hooker fight, he said the Crawford fight “is going to happen.” From Spence’s side, he wants the fight, but Crawford, 33, is lost interest in fighting him for some reason.
The real problem holding up the Spence vs. Crawford fight is money, not fear from one or both of them. Crawford wants more than what Spence is willing to offer him.
It’s an example of Crawford not realizing that he’s the B-side in the equation with the arguably more popular Spence. So instead of acknowledging the obvious, Crawford is walking away from the fight.
The message here is that Crawford is too accustomed to being the A-side as the WBO champion for his title defenses, and he not willing to accept that he’s dealing with more titles, fans, and arguably more talent in Spence.
Although Crawford has talked about wanting a 60-40 split in his favor, what he’s likely looking for is a 50-50 deal, and that doesn’t make sense when you look at Spence’s status as a PPV attraction and the fact that he has two titles compared to Crawford’s one.
“I’m not even worried about Errol Spence anymore. I already told everybody that fight is history.
“I’m not thinking or worried about Errol Spence anymore. That fight is beyond me,” said Crawford to DAZN last Saturday night. ”
As you can see from Crawford’s comment, he’s not interested and is content with never fighting Spence.
This is obviously a clear example of a fighter shooting himself in the foot by not agreeing to fight a guy that the fans want to see him fight.
Even if Spence does give Crawford a 60-40 split in his favor, it’s still more than what he’s been getting for fights against Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Jose Benavidez Jr, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
When Spence picks up the WBA title from 147-lb champion Yordenis Ugas in a unification, he’ll have three of the four titles at welterweight. It’s going to make Crawford look silly with him wanting an even purse split with him.
“I don’t need Spence; he needs me,” said Crawford recently when asked about a fight with Errol.
“Why?” said Spence to Fighthub last Saturday when asked if he’d spoken to Crawford during the Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Maurice Hooker fight. “It’s going to happen, I guess. I don’t know.
“Vergil better do his thing against Terence Crawford. He did good. If me and Vergil fight, it’ll be a great fight. I’ll fight somebody,” said Spence when asked who he’ll be fighting next.
So, what we learned last Saturday night is, Spence wants the fight, but Crawford doesn’t for some reason.