By Jim Calfa: Errol Spence Jr says he wants a rematch with Terence Crawford in December at 154, and he believes he’ll be able to make it much closer the second time around.
Many boxing fans on social media believe that it’s not a good idea for Spence to face Crawford again, given the outcome of their fight last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Crawford knocked out Spence in the ninth round and dropped him on three separate occasions.
It’s unknown what PBC & Showtime will feel about putting on a second Crawford-Spence fight because they must know that it won’t sell anywhere near the numbers of last Saturday’s fight.
It would only make sense for the two to meet in a rematch if Spence beat a couple of top fighters before then, showing he’s improved and ready to fight Crawford again.
The way Spence fought tonight, he would lose to the type of fighters that he would need to beat for a rematch between him and Crawford to be worthwhile pursuing.
If Spence could beat Tim Tszyu, Brian Mendoza, Carlo Adames, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, or Janibek Alimkhanuly, it would show fans that he’s back and might be competitive with Crawford.
Spence going straight into the match with a significant win would make it a tough sell to the public. They won’t want to purchase the rematch, especially if it’s once again priced at a steep $84.99.
There’s a rematch clause that former IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) can use to get the second fight with Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) if he’s resistant to the idea of fighting him again.
“We gotta do it again,” said Errol Spence at the post-fight press conference after his loss to Terence Crawford. “I’m going to be a lot better. It’ll be a lot closer. It’ll probably be in December and the end of the year. I say we gotta do it again.”
“I couldn’t kick it up a notch. I’m a lot better than I showed tonight, and I know a lot of things were off for me. Hopefully, my next one will be at 154.”
“Just fight back. What do you mean what was going through my mind? It’s a boxing match,” said Spence when asked what was going through his mind after he was knocked down by Crawford in round two.
“From the first & second round, I kind of saw what was happening. I thought we’d eventually catch him with a good shot, and he’d recover,” said trainer Derrick James. “This is what happens in big-time boxing. Unfortunately, it was us, and we got to move on.
“I’m going to hold onto this for a long time. I may not ever get over it until we revisit, but it’s life, and you got to keep moving. You got to deal with it, embrace it and move on.
“I just wanted to make sure he was OK. I saw him get hit with big shots, but I could see that his legs were a little off,” said James about Spence.
