By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr. says he believes it’s “a lot easier” fight to be made between him and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford now that the Nebraska native is no longer with Top Rank.
IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) says he’d like to explore the possibility of the two fighting for the 4th belt with Crawford after he takes care of the business at hand with his three-belt unification next month against WBA 147-lb champion Yordenis Ugas on April 16th.
Once Spence captures the WBA title, the only title that remains is the one in Crawford’s possession, and he’d like to make that fight next possibly.
With that said, Crawford will need to be reasonable when it comes to the negotiations because Spence has other options with Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman and his IBF mandatory Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis that he can fall back on.
“I think it’s a lot easier to be made. Obviously, I’m fighting for my third belt. Hopefully, we can get something on the table so we can fight for the fourth belt,” said Errol Spence Jr. to the DAZN Boxing Show on a fight between him and Terence Crawford now possible given that he’s no longer with Top Rank
Spence wants to make the fight with Crawford, but it might not be doable due to the purse demands between the two fighters. If Spence and Crawford insist on making $10 million+ for the fight, it probably won’t be done unless one of the Middle Eastern countries comes forward and is willing to put up the loot to make it happen.
It’s not that Spence doesn’t want the fight with Crawford to happen because he indeed does.
The problem is Crawford isn’t a pay-per-view draw, and Spence isn’t going to be able to singlehandedly bring in enough buys to support the enormous purse demands from both fighters.
You can’t expect PBC to take a financial bath in putting the Spence-Crawford fight together, which is why it’s unlikely the contest will take place unless a Middle Eastern country or one of the wealthy millionaire or billionaires step forward and are willing to put up the money to get this match-up made.
Unfortunately for Crawford, he doesn’t have a good Plan-B if he can’t get the undisputed welterweight match-up against Spence. For Crawford, these are his likely options if he can’t get the Spence fight:
Mikey Garcia
Michael McKinson
Jaron Ennis
David Avanesyan
Custio Clayton
Rashidi Ellis
Former four-division world champion Mikey Garcia (40-2, 30 KOs) is perhaps the best option for Crawford if he can’t get a fight against Spence, but that’s a match-up that won’t sell.
The 34-year-old Mikey has lost two out of his last three fights since 2019 and looks washed up. Crawford vs. Mikey won’t bring in a lot of PPV buys, given that it’s been years since Garcia has beaten a name opponent.
