By Chris Williams: Stephen Espinoza of Showtime says negotiations have never really stopped between Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford for the undisputed welterweight championship, but they just haven’t been able to “get on the same page” to make it happen.
Despite the fight still not being made, Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) and Crawford both want to fight, but they need to find a middle ground where both are willing to give to make it happen.
Thus far, Spence and Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) haven’t found the right deal they’re happy with. That said, Crawford is turning 36 this year and is starting to show signs of slowing down.
There’s a good chance that he’ll soon get beaten, and when that happens, Spence will have missed his opportunity to fight him and will have to start from scratch against whichever young lion takes over as the WBO champion.
One thing that Espinoza failed to remark is that boxing fans are losing interest in seeing the Spence-Crawford fight, as those two don’t often fight enough to stay relevant, and they’re rarely talked about by fans.
When Spence and Crawford fight, they often milk their titles against ho-hum opposition; subsequently, fans don’t get excited about their matches.
Spence hasn’t fought a compelling opponent since his 2019 fight against Shawn Porter four years ago, and before that, his only other interesting opponent was Kell Brook in 2017.
You can’t count little Mikey Garcia as an opponent that created a lot of interest for Spence because he looked small and fat due to the weight he’d packed on to battle Errol at 147.
“The negotiations have never really stopped. They took a pause,” said Stephen Espinoza of Showtime to Fighthype about the status of the Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford negotiations.
“There was the Avanesyan fight for Crawford, and Spence focused on another fight before he got heard.
“There are still ongoing conversations, and until one of the guys says, ‘I’m done fighting,’ I don’t think anybody’s giving up.
“I know for a fact that Spence wants this fight very, very badly, and I believe Terence when he says he wants it very badly as well. Really what it is, I think, is a disconnect around the business.
“It’s not about platforms and those kinds of obstacles. It’s about the deals and what are the detail details that work for both sides, and we haven’t been able to get on the same page.
“So, I think the solution for that is more hard work, and you keep grinding away and keep reaching the middle ground where everybody is happy or similarly unhappy.
