By Allan Fox: The rematch between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford is being planned for early next year in February, with the weight for the fight still to be determined.
To gain an advantage to ensure that he wins, Crawford could drag the middleweight-sized Spence down to welterweight, that would be extra insurance for Crawford because if Spence was at full power, firing on all eight cylinders, he might beat Terence and mess up his vision of getting a fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Crawford cannot afford to even look bad in winning the rematch against Spence if he hopes to be blessed for the golden parachute fight against the Mexican superstar. If Crawford struggles in the rematch with Spence at 154, he can forget about getting a fight with Canelo. Hence, he’ll likely force Spence to boil down to 147 to make sure he’s nice & drained so he can beat up on with the zombie-like physical state he’ll be in for the fight.
It’s believed by some that Crawford will use the weight to have Spence surrender some of his purse for the fight. So if Spence wants it at 154, he may have to sweeten the deal for undisputed welterweight champion Crawford, who is the A-side.
That would obviously make things difficult for the 33-year-old Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), who is way too big to be fighting at welterweight. At this stage in Spence’s career, he really should be fighting at 160 or 168 because he’s too big for 147 or 154.
The Texas native Errol looked deathly emaciated, making weight for his last two fights, which isn’t surprising because he blows up between fights, looking like he’s hovering near 200 lbs. That’s a lot of weight for a guy who fights at 147 to have to trim off.
Fans would prefer not to see a second between the two, but Spence has already activated the rematch. If Spence redeemed himself first against one of the top welterweights or junior middleweights like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Erickson Lubin or Tim Tszyu, the boxing public would be more excited about seeing him fight Crawford again.
It will be difficult for Showtime to sell the Crawford vs. Spence rematch due to the one-sided nature of their previous fight. Last July, Terence Crawford knocked the weight-drained Errol down three times before scoring a ninth-round knockout. When a fight is that lopsided, it is not profitable to have a rematch, especially when it is priced at $85, as it likely will be on PPV.
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) can choose what weight he wants the rematch to take place at, and it’s possible that he may elect to have it back at 147. As long as Spence is weight-drained like last time, Crawford should have an easy time winning, which is why he’s very likely to force the rematch to take place at the welterweight limit.
It’s doubtful that Crawford is going to get the fight that he’s hoping to get against Canelo because he’s too far away from that weight class, and the Mexican star will receive zero credit even if he stomps him into the dirt.
If Canelo struggles to win, he’s going to be laughed at by fans. Losing to Crawford would be the ruin of Canelo’s career and hurt his ability to continue to bring in massive amounts of money.
Crawford needs to move up to 168 and campaign in that weight class for a couple of years to receive a #1 ranking for one of Canelo’s four belts if he’s serious about wanting to fight him and not just out for a retirement payday like many fans believe to be the case. If it’s just greed with Crawford, he’s not going to get the fight. He needs to work for it.
