By Alex Fesl: In case you missed it, this past weekend, Oscar De La Hoya posted a picture online of Terrance Crawford, Bernard Hopkins, and himself at the Golden Boy Promotions headquarters. Not much context was included in the Twitter picture, but most fans assumed Oscar was making a pitch to convince Crawford to partner with Golden Boy Promotions. Oscar later confirmed his intentions to Fight Hub TV in a quick interview.
He stated he wanted Crawford to potentially fight 22-1 Alexis Rocha, undefeated 19-0 Vergil Ortiz Jr, and lastly, to revisit a mega-fight with Errol Spence Jr.
Just to briefly unpack that absurd notion by Oscar. Unless Oscar wants to derail both Rocha and Ortiz’s careers, why would this make any sense to him as a promoter? Rocha and Ortiz are very young and relatively untested fighters. Crawford would surely school and embarrass both of them handily, in my opinion. I assume most boxing fans have little interest in seeing Crawford toy with Rocha and Ortiz, respectfully.
🤔hmmm 😱 @terencecrawford and my partner Bernard @GoldenBoyBoxing pic.twitter.com/mnpbJXQCJz
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) January 28, 2023
More importantly, does the thought of Spence fighting Crawford still move the needle for boxing fans? We have seemingly been teased time and time again of this supposed mega fight coming to fruition for nothing to materialize at the end of the day. Most recently, Crawford opted to exit negotiations with Spence’s team to take on David Avanesyan last December. Crawford, as expected, destroyed overmatched Avanesyan in front of his hometown fans in Omaha, Nebraska. Likewise, Spence is rumored to be taking on former welterweight champion Keith Thurman in late spring at 154 lbs.
With both fighters moving on in their careers, do fans still care to see these two great boxers finally square off in the ring? I, for one, have lost interest in seeing that fight. With Spence moving up to 154 lbs to take on Thurman, I am now more interested in potential fights at that weight class. I’d love to see Spence take on the undefeated 20-0-1 Sebastian Fundora, or junior middleweight king 35-1-1 Jermell Charlo, or even the highly skilled 17-2-1 Brian Carlos Castano.
Additionally, undefeated 21-0 Tim Tszyu and 8-0-1 Israil Madrimov would be entertaining matches for Spence as well. Crawford, on the other hand, seems to have much fewer options going forward. Seemingly without a major promoter backing him, I can imagine Crawford may look to defend his WBO welterweight against mandatory challengers or take one-off defenses like his recent fight with Avanesyan.
Let me know in the comments if you still have any interest in Spence vs. Crawford. If that fight cannot happen, who would you rather see Spence or Crawford fight?