By Chris Williams: Tim Bradley predicts that Errol Spence & Terence Crawford will meet in 2023 for their long-awaited undisputed welterweight championship fight.
Bradley feels there’s “too much money on the table” for the Spence vs. Crawford fight not to happen. However, it’s still highly doubtful the fight will take place, given WBO welterweight champion Crawford’s rumored poor pay-per-view numbers for his fight last weekend against David Avanesyan on BLK Prime.
It’s possible the Spence-Crawford fight can take place next year, as Bradley says, but it’ll likely require that Crawford give up on his assistance on a guaranteed purse and an ability to look at the books for the fight.
As long as Crawford is willing to agree to Spence’s A-side offer, we could see them fight in 2023.
If Crawford pulls another disappearing act where he takes off suddenly during the middle of the negotiations, it’s likely that Spence and his adviser Al Haymon will permanently washi their hands of the aging 35-year-old, and not give him the time of day from that point.
Some would argue that Spence should have nothing to do with Crawford for a second negotiation after the way he negotiated at the same time with BLK Prime as he did with him and then vanished from the talks without warning.
For Spence to want to revisit negotiating with Crawford after that move suggests that he might be too nice for his own good.
Spence should note what happened last time he tried to deal with Bud Crawford, and he ended up with nothing to show for his wasted time.
Why weren’t Crawford’s split gloves replaced?
“According to CompuBox, Bud threw over 600 punches in this fight, connecting on 80, and it was the power punches that really made the difference in this fight,” said Bernardo Osuna to ESPN+ about Terence Crawford’s win over David Avanesyan last Saturday night in Omaha, Nebraska.
“It was a spectacular knockout, but not without some controversy,” said Bernardo Osuna. “It wasn’t Crawford’s fault, but he busted through those Everlast gloves. The [Nebraska] Commission allowed him to continue. There’s been a lot of chatter on social media. Why weren’t the gloves changed in the ring?”
“I’m told that Terence Crawford had custom Everlast gloves. There are always two pairs of sealed gloves, brand new gloves that the commission inspects before the fight,” said Mike Coppinger.
“I’m told that Crawford had the first pair, and he was getting them tighter on his hands, punching them, and the gloves burst open in the locker room. He was actually using the second pair in the fight. That’s the gloves that fell apart going into the sixth round.
“When the referee stopped the fight and asked the commission what to do, they said they were going to change the gloves after that round. I don’t think there was another pair of gloves to change into.
“Afterward, Everlast took responsibility. They said they were defective gloves from a defective batch of leather, not Crawford’sfault. Nonetheless, now David Avanesyan filed a protest with the Commission, and he has every right to be upset, but this is not Crawford’s fault,” said Coppinger.
“You’re right; it wasn’t Crawford’s fault,” said Tim Bradley. “As you can see, they inspected the gloves; they got them back at Everlast. They said they were a defective pair. I get that.
“There were actually a third pair. I don’t understand. Who dropped the ball here? The Commission. Doesn’t Avanesyan have another pair of gloves that Crawford can wear? Hello.
“They could have stopped the action if they were concerned about it, and they could have got Avanesyan’s gloves, his other pair that he had in the dressing room, and they could have brought them in and put them on Crawford. I think everything would have been smoothen out.
“What stood out to me was the fact that he didn’t look like he had any ring rust, which is amazing to me,” said Bradley about Crawford.
Spence vs. Crawford will happen in 2023
“A lot of could have, would have, should have, but the same thing can be said about the future of Terence Crawford,” said Bernardo Osuna. “We all know what we want to see is that fight against Errol Spence.
“Can it be water under the bridge the fact that he [Crawford] was negotiating with BLK Prime with PBC, trying to get that Errol Spence fight done, or has that opportunity passed us by? What do you see coming next in 2023 for Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford?
“I’m going to tell you right now, the fights going to happen. Errol Spence – Terence Crawford fight is going to happen,” said Bradley. “There’s too much money on the table, you’ve got to understand that, and the longer it marinates, the bigger it’s going to get. We’ve seen that in the past; understand that.
“I’m a firm believer that history repeats itself. We saw Mayweather & Pacquiao. We were asking for it for years. Four years later, five years later, we get it. It sells four million pay-per-views. Unbelievable.
“So, I think the same thing is going to happen here. Once they set foot in the ring, these guys are going to sell a million plus pay-per-views. I don’t care what anybody says. They are because, guess what?
“It’s a fight worth watching, and it’s a fight that I believe the fans of boxing and the non-boxing fans if they promote it right, it’s going to do extremely well at the game and at the box office,” said Bradley about the Spence vs. Crawford fight.
“Tim is right, unfortunately, because it does give the promoters the incentive to make their fights at the right time. I do believe that. The longer you wait, the better the fight is going to perform on pay-per-view and at the gate,” said Mike Coppinger.
“We’ve seen it before, as Tim laid out, and I do think this fight will happen. I was told last week that they’re still engaged in talks, Crawford’s side and Al Haymon [of PBC], and they’re trying to make the fight.
“There’s a lot of hope that it can get done next year, and for whatever reason, Errol Spence and Keith Thurman haven’t been announced. So, I’m not sure what’s going on there. I don’t know if Spence is fighting Thurman or somebody else, but there is some sort of issue,” said Coppinger.
“The other issue too is Errol Spence had a minor car accident this week,” said Bernardo Osuna. “Fortunately, he’s been posting on social media that he’s ok and that it’s just bumps & bruises and being sore. We wish a speedy recovery for Errol Spence. He’s already been through so much with that rollover car accident and the fact that he had a detached retina.
“Now, this minor car accident. We hope to get him back in the ring 100%, and hopefully, in 2023, we’ll see Errol Spence against Terence Crawfford,” said Osuna.
Terence victorious in stay-busy fight
“He’d been out of the ring about a year or so, and Crawford got in there in the first two rounds, of course,” said Bradley. “He was vulnerable early because he was constantly looking for the right distance because he was looking to time his shots and time Avanesyan on the way in.
“After the second round, he got back to business. It was Crawford, as usual. His hands were going really naturally, the punching power was there, and I loved his inside work. A lot of people say that Crawford can’t work on the inside. Guess what? He just showed us. He showed us.
“When he’s in there with Spence, and people say that ‘Crawford will back out; he doesn’t want to be at that range with Spence.’ You just saw right there [against Avanesyan] that Crawford can handle it at any aspect inside the ring at any range,” said Bradley.
“My biggest takeaway was that I was really impressed with that knockout sequence,” said Mike Coppinger about Crawford’s sixth round stoppage of Avanesyan.
“Avanesyan is a really tough customer. He throws those left hands, and then Crawford rolls it off, throws a left uppercut, and then throws a right hook from a southpaw stance. He knocked Avanesyan unconscious.
“That was a spectacular knockout, one of the best of the year, and Crawford has really established himself as the best finisher in all of boxing,” said Coppinger.