By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr’s trainer Derrick James says Terence Crawford has never been “pushed before” in a fight because he hasn’t fought anyone good during his 15-year career, and he’s going to get chopped down in a methodical fashion on July 29th in their main event bout on Showtime PPV
Derrick isn’t in awe of Crawford because he recognizes that he’s a classic example of a manufactured fighter, fed stiffs by his promoters to build him into a star, which never happened due to a combination of his lackluster opposition & nonexistent charisma.
James says the plan for IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) is to attack the inexperienced WBO belt-holder Crawford with unrelenting pressure until he’s a broken fighter, ready to surrender the ship.
It’s pretty clear from scanning the 36-year-old Crawford’s fight resume that he’s fought poor opposition all the way through, fighting a lot of washed-up old guys instead of the A-list, high-caliber talents that could have exposed him.
Crawford’s best wins:
- Shawn Porter – *At the end of his career
- Kell Brook – *ditto
- Amir Khan – *ditto
- Yuriorkis Gamboa – *ditto
- Ricky Burns – *ditto
- Julius Indongo
- Jeff Horn
Many boxing fans don’t realize that Top Rank matched Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) in the same way they did with their former fighter Edgar Berlanga, who had been matched against C-level opposition.
Crawford left Top Rank before they could finally start matching him against good opposition, but even with him on his own, he’s still facing sublevel guys. In his first fight since leaving Top Rank, Crawford fought David Avanesyan, who was similar to the fodder he’d been matched with in the past.
“A lot of time when fighters get hit, the strategy goes out the window. In a fight like this, they got to stay focused and make sure they don’t lose focus,” said trainer Derrick James to Manouk Akopyan, talking about the Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford fight.
“It’s about fortitude. We’re going to see a fighter [Crawford] that has never been pushed before in a fight.
“We want to chop him down. That’s the key element. Keep breaking him down, and that’s all he’s going to do,” Derrick said about Spence’s plan for Crawford.
“Who has he fought? What are you talking about? Who are those guys?” said James when asked how does he prepare Spence for Crawford’s power. “Everybody can punch.
“He beat the guy from Australia [Jeff Horn] and beat Benavidez Jr. Come on, man.
“Just be the best version of himself and go out there and stay focused,” said Derrick on what Spence must do to beat Crawford.
