By Allan Fox: Terence Crawford arrived in Las Vegas today to finish out his training for his undisputed welterweight championship fight against Errol Spence Jr in 11 days on July 29th at the T-Mobile Arena.
Judging by appearance, it doesn’t look like WBO champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) has started draining down to get to the 147-lb limit. That makes sense because Crawford isn’t a big welterweight, so he’s got plenty of time to trim down the water weight.
Crawford, 36, is on the verge of getting the fight that he’s pushed for since he moved up to welterweight in 2018. Even if things don’t work out for Crawford, at least he’ll get a huge payday, and he can execute the rematch clause to get another opportunity to cash in.
Spence has already been in Las Vegas for the past two weeks, so he won’t need to go through the acclimatizing process that Crawford will. Going from Colorado to Las Vegas is a vast change in the environment.
Crawford might as well be traveling to planet Mercury because Vegas is experiencing a heat wave now, with today’s temperature a sweltering 112 Fahrenheit, which is only slightly cooler than the 120 F for Death Valley, California.
Terence Crawford has now arrived in Las Vegas to finish his training camp ahead of the Errol Spence fight on July 29th… pic.twitter.com/V0McFQ6ZyK
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) July 18, 2023
It’s put up or shut up for IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champions Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) and Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs). After all the years of back & forth, they’re finally about to settle it in the ring.
“None that affects me. My first world title was in Sheffield, England, and I had been on my longest layoff of a year and some change, waiting for him to get better to fight him. So my mentality, it don’t matter where we fight. It could be anywhere,” said Errol Spence Jr to Pivot Podcast Youtube channel about fighting in Las Vegas against Crawford.
“It could be Omaha, Nebraska, for all I care. For me, I’m all about taking some. I have one job, and that’s to put my hands on him and touch him up, get him out of there and get this belt and go about my way with my kids.
“Yeah, for sure. That’s what comes with it,” said Spence when asked if he’s cool with being the villain for the Crawford fight. That’s what makes it a great scenario when you have the villain and the so-called hero.
“I don’t care. It’s all about my kids eating, staying in private schools, and my mom & dad wiggling their toes at night,” said Spence asked if he was okay with being the villain.
