By Chris Williams: Andre Ward says he wants to see how Terence Crawford deals with the pressure and the power of IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr in their fight on November 19th.
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) has never fought anyone like Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) during his long 14-year professional career.
The guys that Crawford has fought have been below Spence in talent and punching power, especially at 147. WBO champion Crawford still hasn’t faced a killer at welterweight like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Those guys are coming for Crawford, but they likely won’t get a chance to fight the Nebraska native before he moves up to 154 after this year,
“Absolutely. Not necessarily stylistically, but in terms of the magnitude, absolutely,” said Andre Ward to Fighthype when asked if Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford is similar to Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns mega-fight from the 1980s.
“I’m going to say this, and both fighters know this already. Neither fighter has ever fought a fighter like the other,” Ward continued about Spence – Crawford.
“EJ has never fought Terence Crawford, and Terence Crawford has never fought Errol Spence. As much experience as they have, they don’t have experience fighting a fighter like the other.
“You got all the years of build-up and the things that have been said, and things obviously heating up again because the potential for the fight to happen is fresh and new coming off with Spence coming off the Ugas win.
“As an analyst and a fan, I want to see how Bud deals with the steady pressure of Errol. People say Errol fights one way, but it’s effective, and it’s a reason why he’s breaking down and beating a lot of great dudes and why he has the resume that the has.
“I want to see how Terence Crawford deals with the physical strength of Errol Spence.
“I want to see how Crawford deals with the southpaw style of Errol Spence, and the body punching of Errol Spence because Errol is going to go downstairs.
“When you’re getting hit to the body, you don’t got to go down, but it’s still effective, and it shows up midway through the fight, late in the fight, and that’s going to be a grueling fight, so everything is going to count, everything is going to matter.
“I want to see how Crawford deals with the power of Errol Spence. The other side of the coin, I want to see how Errol Spence deals with the reach of Terence Crawford.
“Terence Crawford’s arms are extremely long. We shadow-boxed and played, and sometimes he’d get something close to my face. I’m like, ‘Bro, how you reach that?
“His arms are extremely long for being a welterweight. I don’t know if it’s 73 or 74, somewhere around there. He’s got long arms. How is Errol Spence going to deal with that, the reach?
“How is Errol going to deal with the different styles that Terence can bring to the table? Terence can bang, Terence can float around, and box on his toes. Terence can fight off a jab. Errol can too, but I’m just talking about Terence right now.
“How is Errol going to deal with the power of Terence Crawford? When he gets hit on the chin for the first time, what is going to be his response? I can go back and forth all day about what either fighter brings to the table.
“We just don’t know. We can speculate. We don’t know. They got to get in the ring, and we got to see it unfold. It’s going to be an all-time great welterweight fight. I believe, and I don’t know how they’re going to work it, but I believe there should be a rematch clause for both fighters.
“I believe we should be on the hook for two fights for these two fighters. I can’t see a scenario where it’s a one-and-done for one guy, and the other guy has a rematch clause.
“I think they both should have one. So we’re probably on the hook for a two-fight deal, at least,” said Ward about the Spence vs. Crawford fight.
