By Steve Kim
Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank takes issue with anyone who thinks that he will be hesitant in making a match-up between his client Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs), and current IBF welterweight titlist Errol Spence (23-0, 20 KOs).
Last week, promoter Lou DiBella - in the aftermath of Spence's stoppage win over Lamont Peterson at Barclays in Brooklyn - expressed his doubts about Arum's willingness to place Crawford in the ring with 'The Truth.'
“By the way,” DiBella said, “you think Bob Arum is sitting in Las Vegas right now, saying to himself, ‘Oh damn! I’d really like to put Crawford in with Errol Spence. Man, that’s really what I’d like to do right now. ESPN, get ready, because I’m gonna spend my own money to get my guy beat.’ I doubt it.”
The plan is for Crawford, who unified the 140-pound class in 2017, to face WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) on April 14th at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Spence is scheduled to make his next Showtime televised defense on June 16th in Dallas, Texas.
Arum is even open to the idea of matching them by year's end.
"These people are talking for me and that's outrageous," Arum said to BoxingScene.com from the Wild Card Boxing Club, where the local media was introduced to IBF 115-pound champion Jerwin Ancajas.
"I mean, I think that Crawford has a job first - he has to fight Horn. Then he might fight somebody else.
"Spence is scheduled in June. So by the end of the year or the beginning of next year - why wouldn't these two guys fight?"
Crawford-Spence is one of the best fights to be made in boxing, but it must overcome certain political hurdles to become a reality.
Arum says - "It's certainly a very, very interesting fight and certainly if you're a boxing fan you want to see that fight, no question about it. But again, these guys, Spence and Crawford, they have a job to do fighting guys in the welterweight division and none of these guys are pushovers."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.