By Chris Williams: Shawn Porter says Errol Spence will have a huge advantage over Terence Crawford with his physical presence and his high punch output on July 29th.
While Porter does rate WBO welterweight champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs), he’s incapable of matching IBW, WBA & WBC champ Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) with his volume punching.
Crawford has been a pot-shot fighter his entire fifteen-year professional career, and he’s not going to change now at 36 years old.
Some boxing fans compare Crawford’s fighting style as similar to Sugar Ray Leonard, but this writer doesn’t see any similarities between them. Maybe an old Leonard in his last fight, but not the younger Sugar Ray.
How will Crawford fight Spence? We’ll likely see Terence circle the ring all night, throw single-scoring shots, and tie Spence up to keep him from getting his punches off.
If you watch Crawford’s fights against David Avanesyan and Ray Beltran, that’s how he’ll battle Spence. In other words, Crawford will move, jab, pot-shot, and tie Spence up. It’ll be rinse & repeat all night. Move, jab, pot-shot, and clinch when Speence gets close.
It’s not going to be Sugar Ray Leonard-esque fighting from Crawford on July 29th. It’ll be more like an older Mayweather but without the hand speed.
Spence must cut off the ring
“The first thing that came to mind is Errol Spence’s work rate. He obviously has a big presence in the ring, and when he uses that presence and when he adds to it by working and staying in your face, double jabs & straight lefts and continually trying to work and apply intelligent pressure,” said Shawn Porter to Boxing Social about what Errol Spence Jr has in his favor against Terence Crawford.
If Spence can get to Crawford frequently, he will ruin his world and make him miserable because there’s no way that the Omaha native can match punch for punch with Errol.
Again, Crawford won’t even try because he doesn’t like getting hit, and he knows he can’t throw a lot of shots.
Will Crawford stand in the pocket against Spence? That’s a negative. Crawford doesn’t fight like that. He’s a mover, and he’ll look to slow down Spence’s punch output by staying in motion for three minutes of every round and tying him up in a clinch.
Crawford has a wrestling background, so Spence won’t be able to peel him off when he clinches.
It will require the referee to pull Crawford off Spence each time, consuming large portions of each round. Crawford’s holding & moving will keep Spence from throwing more than 15 to 20 punches per round instead of 80-100.
Crawford will box
“To me, that’s where he has a huge advantage in this fight if you want to call it an advantage. The other side of that is range & distance, for Terence Crawford, is almost invisible,” said Porter. “It’s like you know where it is, and instantly, it’s done.
“He can take it from you and make it look like it’s there, and then he can pull it away from you that quickly. Terence has the ability to work from the outside and then the subtle movements that he makes. He’s not a predictable fighter. I think that’s another advantage or strong side,” said Porter.
Is it possible for Crawford to beat Spence by staying on the outside all night? Not if Spence is ready to box as well as he did in his fight with Mikey Garcia.
If you’re Spence, you need to be prepared to box Crawford if he can’t consistently get to him. Crawford’s moving & holding will make it impossible for Spence to use his superior power, size, and work rate to dominate.
“When you talk about advantage, there aren’t any true advantages in this fight. People try to make some, but there really aren’t any,” said Porter.
“I think there are a lot of interesting components in this fight. Both guys can end this in the first round. It’s something I don’t see, but it could happen.
“If there’s a crazy knockout in this fight in rounds one or ten, then there’s no reason to see a rematch, especially if we get a knockout in between rounds one and five. There’s really no need for a rematch.
“If this fight goes the distance or if we get a draw, we’re probably looking at a fight that could be a draw. If we don’t get a draw, then we’re looking at an unbelievable fight that deserves an instant replay,” said Porter about Spence vs. Crawford.
