By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Adrien Broner respects Terence Crawford and what he has accomplished.
The former four-division champion is convinced, though, that Crawford should avoid a fight against Errol Spence Jr. Crawford would have to move up from 140 pounds to 147 to face Spence, who has shown tremendous power during his ascent toward title contention.
Spence, of DeSoto, Texas, is not an opponent Crawford and/or his team is believed to be seriously considering.
But a Crawford-Spence fight has been mentioned plenty on social media and Internet message boards. The possibility of facing Spence (21-0, 18 KOs) also was presented to Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) by HBO’s Max Kellerman in the ring following the WBC/WBO super lightweight champion’s eighth-round stoppage of John Molina (29-7, 23 KOs) on December 10 in Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford’s hometown.
It's a bad idea to Broner (32-2, 24 KOs), who has sparred numerous times against the left-handed Spence.
“I think it’s foolish for Crawford,” Broner said recently while promoting his February 18 fight against Adrian Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs) in Cincinnati. “But at the end of the day, it’ll be a great fight for boxing because every boxer’s still go that, ‘What if?’ What if he land that one shot?’
“I’ve never been in the ring with Crawford, but I’ve definitely been in the ring – me and Errol have had plenty of wars. And I think he’s the naturally bigger guy. I don’t think it would be a smart fight for Crawford right now in his career.”
Bob Arum, Crawford’s promoter, told BoxingScene.com recently that Crawford will return to the ring sometime in May. Crawford wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao next, but Arum has said that he won’t seriously consider putting Pacquiao-Crawford together until later this year.
Spence, meanwhile, is waiting for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook to decide whether he’ll make a mandatory defense against Brook or relinquish his IBF 147-pound championship to move up to 154 pounds.
England’s Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) has until late next month to inform the IBF of his decision because the IBF granted him a medical extension to determine if he’ll make a mandatory defense. That 60-day extension, approved because Brook had surgery to repair a broken right eye socket suffered against Gennady Golovkin on September 10, began December 26.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.