LOS ANGELES – Errol Spence Jr.’s answer might infuriate frustrated fight fans who’ve wanted him to face Terence Crawford for over a year, but at least he was honest.
When asked Wednesday whether it’s more important to him to make big money for facing Manny Pacquiao next or to pursue a legacy-defining fight with Crawford, Spence didn’t dance around what’s become a sensitive subject for consumers that fund this often-befuddling sport.
“I think both because, I mean, history can remember you and you’ll be dead broke,” Spence told a small group of reporters. “So, like I said, I wanna leave this game with my brain intact and money in my pocket.”
In other words, Spence has no intention whatsoever to pursue a fight with Crawford next if the heavily favored IBF welterweight champion beats WBC champ Shawn Porter on Saturday night at Staples Center. That’s unfortunate news for those of us who want Crawford, who’ll turn 32 on Saturday, to oppose Spence while the Omaha, Nebraska, native is still in his physical prime.
Spence’s skeptics suspect that’s the idea, for the powerful southpaw to catch Crawford when he’s 34 or even 35, and not quite the elite-level champion Crawford is today. Spence says their welterweight title unification fight will happen sooner than that.
“I think the fight can happen,” Spence said. “I want it to happen. I think it will happen. Like I said, it should happen late in 2020 or early in 2021. So, you know, I think it’s gonna happen. I don’t think he have any opponents left, really. And, you know, I have a couple opponents [to fight]. But like I said, I wanna become undisputed. And the only way I can become undisputed is to take his belt. So, you know, we definitely have to make something happen, so I can get his belt.”
If Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) tops Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) and Pacquiao agrees to box Spence early in 2020, it’d afford Spence the chance to add a third welterweight title to what would be an increasingly impressive resume. Pacquiao is 11 years older and four inches shorter than Spence, though, and the much smaller man would be a huge underdog against the hard-hitting Spence.
Pacquiao’s handlers – longtime trainer Freddie Roach included – see so much danger in that fight for the Filipino icon, they don’t even want him to consider it. They’d prefer a fight against Mikey Garcia or Danny Garcia either in January or February, when Pacquiao’s break from the Philippines’ senate should allow for him to fight again.
Mikey Garcia would be coming off a lopsided loss to Spence, but at least he is a marketable name and an accomplished opponent who’s similar in stature to Pacquiao. If Pacquiao were to fight Danny Garcia next, that’d eliminate Spence’s two most obvious options for his next fight among boxers tied to Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Spence mentioned Yordenis Ugas as a potential opponent, too, but he knows beating Ugas would do next to nothing to enhance his legacy.
Truthfully, there’s no reason Spence shouldn’t fight Crawford next if he defeats Porter and Crawford overcomes Lithuania’s Egidijus Kavaliauskas in his next fight. Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) is expected to make a mandatory defense of his title versus Kavaliauskas (21-0-1, 17 KOs) on December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Bob Arum, Crawford’s promoter, even expressed optimism during a recent interview with BoxingScene.com regarding making Crawford-Spence within the first half of 2020.
“I had preliminary talks with Al about it,” Arum said. “That’s the fight that people wanna see. That’s the only fight that’s gonna really resonate on pay-per-view.”
He can’t come out and say it, but Arum realizes he essentially has run out of promotable opponents for Crawford that aren’t aligned with Haymon. If Crawford beats Kavaliauskas, WBC/WBO 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez might make sense for a 2020 fight with Crawford if Arum’s Top Rank were forced to remain in-house for an accomplished Crawford opponent.
But beyond Ramirez and maybe Regis Prograis, both of whom would have to jump up seven pounds to challenge Crawford, there’s nothing the least bit intriguing for Crawford at welterweight other than fights with PBC-affiliated fighters.
None of those such fights make more sense for Crawford than a showdown with Spence. Crawford wouldn’t predict when it’ll happen during another recent interview with BoxingScene.com, but he feels it’s ultimately up to Arum and Haymon to make the dollars makes sense.
“Any fight can be made,” Crawford said. “Like I’ve said, it’s boxing – any fight can be made if everybody sits down and agrees to the terms, where everybody’s happy and can be adults about the situation. That’s how fights get made.”
Crawford’s critics contend that by signing a new contract with Top Rank last year, the three-division champion simply is getting what he deserves by being denied the most meaningful fights within the welterweight division. Interestingly, neither Spence nor Crawford contends that he has been ducked by the other.
Thus far, Haymon has explained to Spence that the timing has not yet been right for him to fight Crawford.
“Just the business is not right,” Spence said regarding what Haymon has told him. “[Haymon] and Bob, you know, can’t come to an agreement on the business part. So, it’s not gonna happen right now.”
Spence’s secretive, shrewd adviser believes their fight can become bigger and make more money for everyone involved.
That goal is understandable. The risk, of course, is that while waiting to make theirs into a “mega-fight,” either Crawford or Spence could get upset. That’s the costly reminder Haymon and Arum should’ve taken away from the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua debacle because it destroyed the Joshua-Deontay Wilder showdown.
Ruiz ruined the most discussed fight in boxing by dropping Joshua four times and stopping him in the seventh round June 1 at Madison Square Garden.
Neither Crawford nor Spence seem susceptible to having a welterweight underdog do that to either one of them. But who knows?
Maybe Porter pulls off an upset Saturday night, and none of this matters. It’s more likely, obviously, that Spence performs the way we expect and advances closer toward Crawford, who should soundly defeat Kavaliauskas.
Regardless, based on the way the underestimated Ruiz rendered Joshua-Wilder irrelevant, they shouldn’t allow something similar to happen to Spence-Crawford, the fascinating fight that replaced Joshua-Wilder as the most anticipated among boxing fans.
Even though they’re fighting 2½ months apart, there’s no real reason Spence and Crawford couldn’t finally fight within the first half of 2020. That wouldn’t disrupt either boxer’s schedule, since they each earn so much money now that they can only fight twice per calendar year.
If the Joshua-Wilder disaster reminded us of anything, it’s that it’s better sooner than never.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
