Terence Crawford is beyond the point of entertaining any fight other than the one he’s wanted since moving up to welterweight.
The unbeaten three-division champ and highly rated pound-for-pound entrant is determined to do his part to land an undisputed welterweight championship with unbeaten rival Errol Spence Jr. Crawford has held the WBO belt since June 2018, while Spence has passed five years as an IBF titlist while adding the WBC and WBA belts along the way.
Now, more than ever, is the time to proceed with the long-awaited showdown for welterweight—and arguably pound-for-pound—supremacy.
“Hopefully. That’s the plan,” Crawford noted during a recent interview on The DAZN Boxing Show. “It’s up to us to get the job done on the business side, to be able to share the ring for all you guys who want to see us share the ring together.
“I think the time right now is the best time. It’s for all the marbles. Errol Spence has got three of the titles. I’ve got one. It would be for the undisputed. There wouldn’t be no other champion in the division. I feel like this is the biggest moment for us two to fight.”
The fight gained more traction than ever following Spence’s tenth-round stoppage of Yordenis Ugas in their WBA/WBC/IBF unification bout this past April 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Spence—who hails from nearby Desoto—pleased the crowd and home viewers by acknowledging that a fight with Crawford for that fourth and final belt was the only one that made sense as a next option.
Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) gained recognition as the lineal champion at lightweight, along with undisputed championship status at junior welterweight before setting his sights on the 147-pound division. Spence (28-0, 22KOs) was already more than a year into his IBF title reign when Crawford made his divisional debut in a one-sided stoppage of unbeaten WBO titlist Jeff Horn in June 2018.
A lot of talk has since come of the pairing but never evolving beyond that point. Crawford was under contract with Top Rank—and ESPN, by proxy—until late 2021, while Spence fights under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner and whose career has taken place on Showtime and Fox Sports platforms.
Crawford has since severed ties with Top Rank and is currently a promotional free agent, which many view as one less hurdle in the way of the dream fight becoming a reality. The switch hitter from Omaha, Nebraska has successfully defended his WBO title five times, each fight almost always a backup selection after failing to secure more desired fights with the division’s elite.
That will not become an option here, not even to the point of Crawford yet entertaining the idea of moving up to junior middleweight to pursue a fourth divisional crown.
“Right now, I’m just in the process of trying to secure this fight,” vowed Crawford. “Everything else can be talked about later.”
Crawford has been out since a tenth-round stoppage of Shawn Porter last November 20 in Las Vegas. The win saw the 34-year-old advance to 16-0 (13KOs) in fights with at least one major title at stake, including knockout wins in all six fights at welterweight.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox