For the first time in more than a year, Bob Arum really believed there was a strong chance of a super fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence seeing the light of day in 2020.
The Hall of Fame promoter has publicly pushed for a clash of unbeaten welterweight titlists for some time, usually falling on deaf ears and with his own reaction never remedying the situation. In the wake of his working with Spence’s adviser, Al Haymon to have ESPN and Fox Sports join forces for the heavyweight title fight rematch between Tyson Fury (ESPN/Arum’s Top Rank) and Deontay Wilder (Fox Sports/Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions) came the belief that joint ventures between the two could become the new normal.
“Obviously, if we hadn’t had this coronavirus (COVID-19), we would probably be talking about additional events that were on the schedule where would be joint promotions and maybe joint telecasts,” Arum told Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher in an interview as part of the Catching Up With Crystina series on the company’s YouTube channel. “Once we resume, maybe we will do that again.
“If we hadn’t had this coronavirus situation and continued doing fights in March and to this day, we would be talking about a Crawford-Spence fight towards the end of the year. I really believe that would’ve happened.”
However close the two sides were to such a fight, it became a moot point once the sport as a whole shut down in the wake of the ongoing global health crisis. Neither Spence (26-0, 21KOs) nor Crawford (36-0, 27KOs) have yet to fight in 2020, nor did either elite welterweight have a bout firmly scheduled.
Spence has been out of the ring since a title-unifying 12-round split decision win over Shawn Porter in their Fox Sports Pay-Per-View thriller last September at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Desoto, Texas native was being groomed for a voluntary defense versus former two-division titlist Danny Garcia this past January, with such plans postponed after Spence suffered injuries in a single car crash last October from which he’s fully recovered.
Crawford lodged the third defense of his version of the welterweight crown in a 9th round knockout of previously unbeaten Egidijus Kavaliauskas last December live on ESPN from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The longtime pound-for-pound entrant from Omaha, Nebraska has seen his name attached to a potential fight with former titlist Kell Brook, although the switch hitter greater fancies elite level showdowns for all future ring endeavors.
To take Arum at his word is to believe that the hunt is on to satisfy the demand of one of Top Rank’s most notable clients.
“I’m optimistic it will happen next year once this situation clears itself up and once we’re operating as usual again," insists Arum.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
