Terence Crawford says he’s got his mandatory rematch with Errol Spence and must get out of the way in early 2024 before he can consider other options. That’s a fight that Terence, 36, can’t avoid.
It’s unclear what the rematch expiration date is for the Spence fight. It would be a shame if the second clash is delayed into late next year.
Crawford can’t afford the rematch with the former unified welterweight champion Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) to drag out into late 2024, as that would foil his opportunities for a lucrative fight against the Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez.
The Omaha, Nebraska native Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is a potential opponent for undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo for September 2024, provided he wins his rematch with Spence.
Last July, Crawford picked up a massive career-best win, defeating Spence by a ninth round knockout in their long-awaited mega-fight. Crawford dominated Spence.
There had been hope that Crawford would take care of the rematch with Spence in December so he could move on, but that couldn’t happen.
Spence rematch next in 2024
“I’ve got the rematch that I got to do before I can do another fight,” said Terence Crawford to Fighthype when asked what fight he’s looking at ahead. “We just waiting on that.”
Thus far, Crawford is staying patient about the Spence rematch, but it’s got to be worrying him because he’s got the Canelo fight that is available to him if he can take care of the business with Errol once and for all.
“They going to shape and write whatever they’re going to write regardless. They going to make you out who you’re not or who you are or what they think of you,” said Crawford about the media. “So, it really don’t matter what I do, what I say, or how I carry.
“I’ve been carrying it the same way my whole career, and for people to make it seem like I changed and I’m a different person is people that just now jumped on the bandwagon to follow Terence Crawford.”
It’s unclear what Crawford means by saying that he’s got fans jumping on the bandwagon. It almost seems like he’s bitter about his sudden increase in popularity after his win over Spence.
If he’s wondering whether those fans were before his win, the fact they didn’t know Crawford existed is because he’s been fighting under the radar against mediocre opposition throughout most of his 15-year pro career.
When you’re fighting guys like Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez Jr, and Shawn Porter, you’re not going to get noticed by the fans.
On fighters wanting to go promoter-free
“It’s a lot of things I could say right now that I’m not going to say, but there are changes that need to be made in the sport of boxing, and I think that change is coming soon,” said Crawford, reacting to Ryan Garcia’s situation with Golden Boy, being used as an example of fighters wanting to potentially go on their own and be their own boss.
“There’s always that thing for us fighters to come together. When you turn around, it’s ego when you got a lot of fighters with big egos and pride issues. It’s hard to talk to them about that nature, especially when we’re talking about change.”
If you’re a fighter with a ton of talent and the kind of social media reach that Ryan Garcia has, going on your own without a promoter is an option. Whether Crawford’s career would have advanced faster if he’d been promoter-free all these years is questionable.
He’d still have been avoided due to him being a counter-puncher, switch-hitting defensive fighter, with a low profile on social media.
“That’s a big thing in boxing. That eliminates a lot of things like promoters, managers, and things like that. People aren’t going to like that. But when everything is put out in front of you, how can you go against it?” said Crawford.
PBC platform destination talk
“I just hope it lands on the best one possible for them,” said Crawford, on where he hopes PBC will move next now that Showtime will no longer be broadcasting boxing events. “I’m not signed with anybody right now, so that [where PBC ends up] doesn’t apply to me. I just wish everybody well.”
If PBC ends up at Amazon Prime, we’ll see how well the rematch between Crawford & Spence does on PPV. There’s not a lot of interest from boxing fans in seeing those two fight again.
