By Daniel Echevarria: At first, let me say that I am not a fan of either fighter, but I do enjoy their fights, and they are both very talented. I am more of a fan of the heavyweights like Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, etc.
I have been watching boxing for many years now, and I have witnessed many changes or how the sport has evolved over time as some might say instead. The sport of boxing has grown into big business for venues and T.V. networks, let alone changing the lives of fighters sometimes overnight.
The era of Floyd Mayweather Jr. introduced us all to million-dollar fighters who were able to live lavish lifestyles because of the money generated from pay-per-view and ticket sales from a fight instead of just dunking a basketball or running with a pig skin into an endzone.
The fighters of today have found a way to perfect their craft of fighting and turn it into a highly lucrative financial vehicle that has produced a lifestyle that many can only dream about.
To many of us fans, whether hardcore or casual, we only see the sport of boxing as just simply a form of entertainment when we turn on our television and nothing more.
I will admit that I am also guilty of this, and I have never looked at boxing from the perspective of the actual fighters who, along with police officers, also wake up and perform a job that is a risk to their life, but the difference is boxers do it simply for our entertainment.
At first, Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence not happening wasn’t a big deal to me because, as I said before, I was more focused on the heavyweights. I was more concerned about what was going to happen with Oleksandr Usyk and Fury because that was a major factor for Wilder.
The attention I had for Crawford vs. Spence shifted when I kept hearing and seeing video after video on how Crawford ducked Errol Spence and pulled out of the fight, so everything was Crawford’s fault.
Like I said earlier, I have been watching boxing, and I notice patterns I often notice that when it specifically comes to Spence, if the fight doesn’t happen, the opponent is always called a DUCK which somehow means he was scared, which never made sense to me because these guys have been fighting for years so how are they afraid now.
So when I decided to finally pay attention to this fight, the first thing that JUMPED out to me that was very concerning was the fact that even though Crawford has many years of accomplishments, like accomplishing gaining all belts at a lower weight class and becoming what is called UNDISPUTED, he was offered a Spence fight with NO GUARANTEED PURSE.
A guaranteed purse is normal and essential because no one has any idea of how well the pay-per-view and ticket sales will do, and today we live in a time where most people stream fights on the internet, so pay-per-view sales will come in lower than usual.
In my opinion, Crawford was a smart fighter to pull out of this fight because I don’t know anyone who is willing to work for FREE. I would imagine that if this is supposed to be Crawford’s biggest fight to date because of the caliber of Spence, then he is most likely going to train hard every day for about two months and mix in time to promote and all for FREE because no guarantee means FREE let’s be honest.
Lastly, if you look up Spence’s last opponent, Yordenis Ugas, was offered 1 million dollars as a guarantee, and no one can tell me that Ugas holds more value than Crawford because Ugas never defended that title, and he was only Champion about eight months. No fighter should fight for FREE because it’s a job.