Terence Crawford’s vow to serve up a fish fry was met with a guarantee that Errol Spence will smoke some ‘Bud’ in their upcoming superfight.
Spence was immediately dismissive of his divisional and pound-for-pound rival’s claim that their July 29 Showtime Pay-Per-View main event will define Crawford as the premier boxer of this generation. The pair of unbeaten welterweight titlists formally announced their undisputed championship during an official press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Crawford promised that he would leave the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as the sport’s first male boxer to fully unify two separate weight divisions in the four-belt era. Spence obviously has other plans in mind.
“Y’all go to ESJTheTruth.com and go buy that pack, man,” Spence encouraged attendees and those watching the live stream on Showtime’s YouTube channel. “We gonna roll him up and smoke him.
“It’s legal in Vegas. We gonna roll him up and smoke this dude.”
The two-city press tour kicked off Tuesday, just more than five years to the day of Crawford’s WBO welterweight title winning ninth-round knockout of unbeaten Jeff Horn at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Their June 2018 clash took place one week prior to Spence’s second IBF title defense, a first-round knockout of Carlos Ocampo at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, just outside of Spence’s hometown of Desoto, Texas.
Both will attempt the seventh title defenses of their respective reigns spanning that period of more than five years. Crawford has scored knockouts wins in all seven of his welterweight title fights, while Spence has unified three of the division’s four major titles.
Two-way history is at stake in their long-awaited showdown. While Crawford aims to become the first two-division, four-belt undisputed champion in men’s boxing, Spence aims to become the first male to beat four reigning titlists to fully unify any division in the four-belt era. The only other fighter to do so is Ireland’s Katie Taylor, who unseated four reigning lightweight titleholders to become—and still serve as—undisputed lightweight champion.
Spence will attempt to do so as the slight betting underdog (+120 according to early odds posted by bet365sportsbook) and—more germane to the fight itself—on the heels of a 15-month layoff. The 33-year-old southpaw hasn’t fought since a tenth-round stoppage of Yordenis Ugas to win the WBA title and defend his WBC and IBF belts last April 16 at AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
Still, he and Crawford—who comes off a sixth-round knockout of David Avanesyan last December 10 in his Omaha, Nebraska hometown—remain on the short list of the sport’s very best current fighters. The winner will garner strong consideration for pound-for-pound king and leading contender for Fighter of the Year.
“Everybody know this the best fighter in the world no matter who win,” insisted Spence. “This the crème de la crème right here.”
By Jake Donovan