By Sal Arteaga: Tonight, we’ll witness the coronation of the undisputed Welterweight Champion, and Errol Spence Jr. believes it will be him who will don the crown at the end of the night in his fight with Terence Crawford at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) will seek to be highly offensive by employing pressure and being active with a volume punching attack.
Errol will seek to break WBO champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) down and believes a high-pressure offensive strategy will earn him the victory in their 12-round contest on Showtime PPV.
However, Crawford appears to be stylistically different from any other boxer Errol has faced. Crawford is ambidextrous, able to box in either a left or right stance, athletic, elusive, and quick. Crawford has the skill and ability to make Errol miss and counter with combinations.
If Crawford can strategically utilize in-and-out movement and control the distance, he will frustrate Spence. Although quick, Spence is not as agile or as mobile as Crawford. Exploiting this weakness would be greatly advantageous to Crawford.
Stationery targets are easy to hit. The challenging ones are those that are in sight but move before you can reach them.
Both are highly skilled boxers with superior boxing abilities, but they differentiate themselves in their effectiveness in defending. Crawford holds the edge in being defensively better than Spence and will be able to dictate the exchanges if he can make him miss.
Crawford is more elusive and can fend off punches much more effectively. Spence tends to get hit at a much higher rate with an opponent connection rate of 28.8, compared to Crawford’s 20.9 percent (Compubox).
Spence will be the aggressor early, and his effectiveness will be dictated by Crawford’s ability to defend. Spence is the more active fighter, throwing, on average, about 20 punches more per round than Crawford (Compubox).
Being able to minimize and defend Spence’s jab is key; being able to do so effectively will allow Crawford to counter and execute his offensive game plan.
Can the 36-year-old Crawford sustain the offensive strategy Spence intends to employ? He will have to outlast, outbox, and outmaneuver Spence for the entire duration of the match. This will be a competitive match, where the defensive boxer will prevail.
