Phone a foe: Crawford, Spence keep fight from slipping away, set up boxing blockbuster
NEW YORK (AP) — Terence Crawford couldn't even get a haircut without being asked about Errol Spence Jr.
Anywhere he visited, from barbershops to boxing blogs, came questions about whether the two undefeated fighters would ever meet. The winner would become the first man to hold all four welterweight titles and have a claim as the best in the sport, so it was one of the biggest bouts that could be made.
And yet it seemed to be slipping away.
Rival promotional companies couldn't get a deal done, so Crawford and Spence decided the only way they would get into the ring is if they first got on the phone to talk about what it would take.
“Errol and myself, we both have the same goals and that’s to become undisputed welterweight champion of the world,” Crawford said Wednesday. “So we couldn’t get the fight for the reasons that we couldn’t, so why not come together as men and see what we can do to get the fight done together.”
It was finally made for July 29 in Las Vegas, a Showtime pay-per-view main event that had the fighters talking about blockbusters such as Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns, or more recently Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao.
The latter came after those fighters' best days, but Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) and Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) are right in their primes. But like that bout, an easy victory for Mayweather in 2015, what seemed a no-brainer to make turned into anything but.
Crawford and Spence have been in the same weight class since 2018, when Crawford moved up after being the undisputed 140-pound champion to capture the WBO version of the welterweight title. Spence had won the IBF version a year earlier and has subsequently gone on to add the WBC and WBA belts.
But Crawford was promoted by Top Rank and Spence is with Premier Boxing Champions, who rarely did business. Frustrated that a deal hadn't been made — and feeling he was unfairly blamed — Crawford made a FaceTime call to Spence after they had traded text messages.
“The stakes is real high at this point and I recognized that, he recognized and that’s why we came together and made the fight that all fans wanted to be made,” Crawford said.
Spence, in position to make demands as the three-belt titlist with other options in PBC's deep roster, said he instead made concessions to get the fight across the line.
“I feel like I’m the reason why the fight happened,” he said.
Stephen Espinoza, Showtime's president of sports and event programming, called it “the perfect fight,” given the fighters' crowd-pleasing skills and styles, their knockout power, and the fact they seem evenly matched. Fans and media have been debating who would win long before the fight was ever made.
That's part of the reason both wanted it so badly. Spence believes too many in boxing have been afraid to take risks, but said a fighter can't be the best unless he does.
“This is a fight where we can show these boxers and people in suits that hey man, if the best are fighting the best and you're giving us the fights that we want, then there’s going to be a reward at the end,” Spence said.
There was clear respect between the fighters on the second day of their coast-to-coast press tour, with Crawford even calling himself a fan of Spence. There was the usual trash talk that accompanies a big bout, but also a rare chuckle as they stared face to face with their belts over their shoulders.
That will be gone when they finally get in the ring at T-Mobile Arena. They have beaten some of the same opponents, and recognize how good the other is.
Each believes he will leave being able to say he is the best.
“A lot of people say, why'd it take so long?” Crawford said. “Doesn’t matter. We’re here now and July 29 I can assure you, I can promise you you’re all going to walk away and you’re all going to say, 'that kid is special.”
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