By Jake Donovan

KISSIMMEE,Fla.—Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford is arguably the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport today but where he ranks among the current welterweight elite is up for debate.

The easiest way to resolve the dispute is simply to have the division’s best face one another. If the unbeaten three-division titlist had his way, his next fight would be against any of his fellow titlists.

However, his contract status with Top Rank and ESPN has him politically on the outside of current plans for a series of welterweight bouts under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner, as the conglomerate boasts nearly every other relevant 147-pound titlist and contender in the world today.

Among that lot is unbeaten rising superstar Errol Spence Jr., considered by many to be the best of the bunch. The past several months have seen Spence and Crawford go back and forth—mostly through social media but also in person during their spirited backstage discussion following Maurice Hooker’s knockout win over Alex Saucedo last November on ESPN—but so far failing to lead to an in-ring collision.

It’s a fight that both boxers claim to want, so why hasn’t it yet happened or negotiations even yet begun?

“You gotta ask them,” Crawford told a group of reporters on Saturday in Kissimmee, Fla., where he was on hand for stablemate Jamel Herring’s ESPN-televised 130-pound title win over Masayuki Ito. “You can’t ask me something that I’ve been calling for. It’s on them. They gotta get on the phone.”

By “they”, Crawford refers to those among the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) brass responsible for Spence’s in-ring activities. The conglomerate was created by adviser and multi-year Manager of the Year recipient Al Haymon, who has a long and sordid history with Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, who has guided Crawford’s career since 2011.

The two sides are not completely averse to doing business with one another, with several PBC fighters having even faced—and suffered knockout losses to—Crawford. None were “A” side clients, though, just as Top Rank has never been quick to send any of its tentpole fighters to other platforms.

Still, the fight that most boxing fans want to see in the loaded welterweight division should at least initiate two way conversation.

“When will we see it? We’ll see it when Errol Spence gets his guys to call Bob (Arum) to make the fight happen,” noted retired former two-division titlist Tim Bradley, who now works as an ESPN boxing expert analyst. “I believe both guys want to get it on, they just have to get their people together to make it happen.”

Spence remains linked to a unification bout with Shawn Porter, though when exactly that takes place remains very fluid. The two were rumored for a summertime showdown on Fox TV, although BoxingScene.com has learned those plans are no longer on the table and that such a fight could wind up going the Pay-Per-View route if it materializes.

The fact that it’s not yet official leaves Crawford’s side optimistic—if only to a fault—of the one fight that most in the industry want to see above any other welterweight clash.

“That’s the fight that people want to see,” acknowledged Arum. “It’s this generation’s Ray Leonard versus Tommy Hearns.

“Hopefully it will be Spence versus Crawford in the fall. That’s the fight that should happen.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox