By Jim Calfa: Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr have agreed to a July 29th fight, which includes bidirectional rematch clauses, but they still haven’t signed the contract for the bout.
According to ESPN, both guys are getting boatloads of money for the fight, said to be eight figures, with it being guaranteed. That’s a lot of dough for Spence and Crawford to be getting for two inactive welterweights who have been off the grid for most of the last three years.
It’s one of those fights where you have to remain skeptical about it happening until they get in the ring on July 29th. The reason for that is Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) and Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) have talked of wanting to fight for years, and it’s never happened.
With both guys long in the tooth, they might not make it out of training camp without going down with a fight-postponing injury.
Trilogy fight possible for Spence-Crawford
“A trilogy fight is overwhelmingly likely if they split the two fights. It’s happening because the fighters pushed behind the scenes to finalize the matchup at long last,” said Mike Coppinger to ESPN.
“There’s a bidirectional rematch clause that the loser can trigger within 30 days after the fight. It’s a two-fight deal for Crawford with PBC.”
“It’s a couple of years too late. I still feel they’re somewhat on top of their game,” said Dan Canobbio to Inside Boxing Live on the Spence vs. Crawford fight.
“It’s hard to tell because Crawford has been inactive in recent years, especially against tip-top guys. Spence has been out of the ring with health problems from multiple car accidents and the eye,” said Chris Algieri.
“So there are many question marks with these guys, but there’s no question this is a huge fight. Once we get close to it, this is going to be a massive, massive fight.
“The timing of this is no coincidence. Coming on the heels of last weekend’s fight between Haney and Lomachenko with all the controversy surrounding that,” said Algieri.
Has age caught up with Crawford?
“We’re going to see if age has caught up to Crawford and has a lot of ring rust as well,” said Canobbio. “What it does gives us some movement at 147, finally. We’re finally going to find out who is the best welterweight of this generation.
“We never saw Spence-Crawford, the two best guys. So we’re going to get some closure on that. There’s a bilateral rematch clause, so it’s very likely we’ll see two of these fights. So they fight twice, and whoever comes out of the fights can potentially move up to 154 and maybe fight Charlo.”
“If we get two, we might get three,” said Algierei about the possibility of a trilogy match between Errol and Crawford. “This could be a massive historic type of fight.”
“The stylistic match-up between Mayweather and Pacquiao was never good for Pacquiao. This fight is different. It’s whoever can assert their will and make their opponent fight their style.
“It’s a very evenly matched fight. They’re good at different things. I’m really curious to see both men’s strategies and which one is able to execute,” said Algieri.
Spence’s volume will be key
“Spence is a guy who comes forward. Seventy punches per round” said Canobbio. “He has a deliberate come forward seventy punches per round pace.
“Go to the flipside. Terence Crawford has thirty punches per round. He is your low volume, high accuracy, game-changing power type.”
“He’s a sniper, yeah,” said Algieri about Crawford.
“Sniper, yeah. Gervonta Davis has the same style. Canelo somewhat has the same style but doesn’t have the same power anymore. Jermall Charlo has the same style. There’s only a handful of guys that can fight like Terence Crawford.”
“None of those guys are as tricky or as sneaky as Crawford,” said Algieri. “A lot of Crawford’s power comes from the fact that he hides his shots. He hides his best shots and sets traps. The switching sides make it very difficult to figure out where his power punches are coming from.
“He hits hard with both hands. He can end a fight with either hand. He’s done it. He’s ended fights with his southpaw jabs. He’s so dangerous from so many positions, and he hides his power so well.
I don’t think he’s as physically strong as Spence is, but his one-punch power is better than Spence’s because of his ability to hide the shot, giving them a tricky angle and hit you with a punch you don’t see.
“When he iced Kell Brook with a single jab over the top that he didn’t see, that was really impressive, even though Brook was on the tail end of his career with damage to both eyes,” said Algieri.
