By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford says he doesn’t want a tune-up fight to get ready for the undisputed welterweight match against unified three-belt champion Errol Spence Jr.
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) states that he’s ready for Team Spence to contact his management to get the ball rolling.
The Nebraska native Crawford made a big deal, saying he doesn’t want a tune-up. At 35-years-old, why would Crawford even need a tune-up?
It’s unclear what split WBO welterweight champion Crawford is looking to get for the fight against IBF/WBA/WBC 147-lb champion Spence (28-0, 22 KOs).
If it’s anywhere near parity, Crawford won’t get the fight and will have to take his chances fighting one of the killers, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Vergil Ortiz Jr., or Conor Benn, that is coming for him.
Crawford doesn’t want a tune-up
It’s understandable why Crawford wouldn’t want a tune-up fight before facing Spence for the undisputed 147-lb championship.
All you need to do is look at the rankings to see that Boots Ennis is #1 and Vergil Ortiz Jr. is #2 in the World Boxing Organization rankings, and you can figure out why Crawford is in such a mad hurry to fight Spence now. He’s got to.
If Crawford doesn’t fight Spence now, he’s about to become extinct as the WBO 147-lb champion, getting dethroned by Boots Ennis or Ortiz. Once the WBO orders Crawford to fight one of those two, it’s game over.
The way that Crawford struggled against the shot-to-pieces gatekeeper Shawn Porter last November, it’s obvious that he’s not going to be able to hang with Spence.
“Now is the perfect time for me and him to fight,” Crawford said to ESPN. “He called me out, so it ain’t no backing up. Let’s see who the best welterweight in the world is.”
If you’re being honest, Spence vs. Crawford won’t decide who the #1 fighter is in the world at 147. At this point, Spence vs. Boots Ennis is the fight that would decide who the #1 fighter is at welterweight.
Ennis (28-0, 26 KOs) is a younger, bigger & stronger version of Crawford, and he would be a nightmare for him.
“Definitely it’s bigger now. Undisputed on the line,” Crawford continued. “I’m going straight into it. I don’t want no tuneup fights.
“The way we can get this fight done is them sending me an offer and we look at the offer and sit down at the table and we discuss what’s needed from both sides.
“My team is just waiting on them to get in touch with us and make this fight happen,” said Crawford.
As long as Crawford has his feet on the ground when it comes to the negotiations, the fight can happen, but if he’s talking about a 50-50 or 55-45 split for the fight with Spence, it’s probably not going to happen.
Spence likely won’t agree to make the fight with Crawford unless it’s a 60-40 split, and even that split wouldn’t make sense. Errol is basically buying Crawford’s WBO belt, and it’s not worth it.
