By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr’s trainer Derrick James questions whether Terence Crawford is as tough as Errol’s last opponent Yordenis Ugas because he’s going to take a lot of punishment to the head, face & body in their July 29th fight.
The former WBA welterweight champion Ugas held tough until he was stopped in the tenth round by Spence due to an eye injury. By that point in the fight, Ugas had a busted orbital bone, a broken nose, and cracked ribs.
Derrick isn’t sure if WBO 147-lb champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) can take that kind of a beating from Errol (28-0, 22 KOs) without falling apart mentally and getting taken out.
Will Crawford wave the white flag of surrender?
The way Derrick sees it, Crawford will have to fight Spence because he won’t get a cheap win by running around the ring, landing a punch here & there, and playing keep away all night.
That’s not going to work. This isn’t Omaha, Nebraska. If Crawford wants to win, he’s going to need to stand in the pocket and brawl with Spence and try and out-tough him the best he can. If Crawford isn’t cut out for it, he’ll fall apart and get stopped.
It would have been good if Crawford had fought a few killers before facing Spence because that would have gotten him some badly-needed experience to get him prepared for what he will be dealing with.
Ideally, Crawford should have fought these murderers row killers:
- Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
- Vergil Ortiz Jr
- Eimanta Stanionis
- Tim Tszyu
- Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Jermell Charlo
- Demetrius Andrade
Terence has a chip on his shoulder
“Crawford is a great fighter. He’s tough, and he has a chip on his shoulder. I think he feels he always has something to prove, which he doesn’t, but I guess he does,” said Derrick James to Fight Hub TV about Terence Crawford.
It’s not surprising that Crawford is insecure because, with his weak resume, he clearly suspects the truth about his career. He was created by Top Rank with their match-making.
“I think he’ll stick with what works for him the best. If it’s working, he’ll stick with it,” Derrick continued about Crawford. “A smart person sticks with it. That’s what I would do. If it’s working, keep working on it, keep pushing.”
Crawford should forget about the constant switching stances that he doses that junk doesn’t work. He’s always better when in the southpaw stance, and the only thing he does when he switches is fight less effectively.
“Errol’s counter-punches are sharper. He’s [Crawford] very calculated, so we have to be prepared for all these different scenarios. We’re going to offset whatever he does,” said James.
Will Crawford break down?
“You don’t know what he’s going to do, but you know he’s going to do his best to fight his fight,” said James. “You don’t know how he’s going to react to pressure because none of the guys that he ever fought punches as hard as Errol.
“He never fought anybody that punches as hard as Errol. He breaks your face; he breaks your ribs; he breaks your orbital bone. That’s something that’s different, so we’ll see.
“I think our last fight [Yordenis Ugas] was the toughest guy in boxing. He had a broken rib, broken orbital bone, and broken nose, and he still be fighting. I think that’s a different type of guy.”
Can Crawford fight with a broken orbital bone, busted ribs, and a broken nose? This writer doubts it. So if he starts sustaining injuries against Spence, Crawford will quit or get pulled by his coach Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntrye.
“I don’t know if there are that many guys left in the world. I don’t think he’ll be the same fighter anymore,” said James. “We’ll see if he is tougher than that guy.
“We’ve been the underdog, even though we’ve been breaking people’s faces, ribs and knocking them out. We’re still the underdog, and it’s cool. I don’t have a problem with that.
“Everybody has been doubted. When we win, I don’t care,” said James on whether he’ll gloat and tell the doubters, ‘I told you so’ if Spence beats Crawford.
“Possibly,” said James on whether Spence will move up to 154 after he beats Crawford. “I think I heard him say that,” said Derrick.
