Bob Arum is confident a super fight between welterweights Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. can be staged as soon as the sidelined Spence is ready to resume his career.
“Negotiations would take less than an hour once Spence is ready to return to put the Crawford fight together. It’s not Al [Haymon’s] fault Spence is not healthy enough to fight at the present time. Hopefully he’ll recover from his injuries to fight again,” Arum told BoxingScene.com in an interview.
“Al Haymon and I discussed Crawford-Spence before the accident and we were well on our way to making that fight. We talked earlier this year in doing a Spence-Crawford fight in 2020. While we never agreed, we were in effect circling around the same terms that we have for Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. But realistically, we can’t count on it because we can’t count on when he’ll be available. Those were serious injuries that he incurred.”
The notion that Arum and Haymon are conducting amiable relations is a welcome update considering the 88-year-old has previously called the PBC head a “cancer” for the sport and has said Haymon will discourage Spence Jr. from a Crawford to stay away from a white promoter.
Although Arum is in daily talks with Haymon, he indicated that he doesn’t know how serious Spence’s injuries are after the WBC and IBF champion crashed his convertible in October and was ejected from the car.
“Have you seen Spence Jr. in public since the accident? Have you seen him make a statement? Has anybody seen him?” said Arum. “If he were presentable, believe me, they would have had him do an interview to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and so forth. But he hasn’t emerged in public, and one has to wonder if he’s suffered any facial disfigurements. You look at that car, and the idea that he suffered no injuries at all is unfathomable.”
As soon as Spence Jr. is cleared to get back in the ring, real steam should surely pick up for the first time for the much-desired showdown to finally becoming a reality.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.
