Errol Spence (left) and Terence Crawford face off. A «year» in boxing circles, pitting Terence Crawford against Errol Spence for all 10th-weight 7lb world titles and the winner arguably the best fighter on the planet, Saturday Night's big event made little headway into the mainstream.
In Las Vegas, in a microcosm of sorts, among the chattering boxing classes, this event is not to be missed. But times have changed. It's all about the viral moments, the rise of YouTubers, the attention grabber, the brawl at the press conference.
Without it, things seem to boil over rather than simmer, but fighting fans have been waiting for this pugilistic chess duel between two masters of their craft: Crawford from Omaha, Nebraska, and Spence from Long Island, New York for several years.
The momentum for combat—and perhaps many other aspects of life today—seems to be growing and gaining wide coverage from the viral moment rather than the appreciation of aesthetics. We didn't have «that moment» for Crawford vs. Spence, and that doesn't mean they don't have incredible stories to tell: they both have story arcs worthy of Hollywood blockbusters.
Crawford's story is about how he was shot in the car after getting out of the sweepstakes, and Spence miraculously survived a terrible car accident. Google it. There are frightening footage of a tumbling car with a boxer inside. How Spence left, God only knows.
The truth is, none of the men are capable of screaming from the rooftops. It's just not in them. But this is a monumental fight. Right.
Indeed, something similar happened in Tokyo on Tuesday. Naoya Inoue, known as «The Monster» for his aggressive mind, bizarre strength and knockout of 22 of his 25 victims, moved up to the fourth weight class (108 pounds to 122 pounds), beating not only the world champion, but the very best. He stopped the invincible American Stephen Fulton.
Widely known and loved in Japan, sunrise in the west is not enough for Inoue. There was recognition, but not at the level he deserves. Perhaps Inoue is leading the pound-for-pound debate until a winner is decided on Saturday night.
Crawford and Spence are making millions of dollars for their fight, but in terms of pay-per-view, it is unlikely to match the biggest fight of the year in the US, when Ryan Garcia and Gervonta «Tank» Davis fought. with a lot of beef in between and noise around it. The two lightweights make up a terrific division that includes two other American greats, Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson. The latter is on his way to becoming the best boxer in the sport.
Khan, Brooke and Burns couldn't touch Crawford
But back to Garcia vs. Davis. This resulted in Davis' complete win over Garcia and the biggest buy-per-view of the year — estimated to be 750,000 — and in particular due to the pre-fight and Garcia trash talk. has one of the largest active boxer social media profiles with 10.3 million Instagram followers. Davis himself has 5.8 million subscribers.
However, Crawford vs. Spence, as soon as the first call calls them to action, should be exciting. Both are undefeated, both in their prime, but this is still one of those fights that “should have” happened back in 2019. Both fighters are known to the British public.
Crawford moved up in three weight divisions — lightweight, welterweight and welterweight — showing his class at lightweight against Ricky Burns in Glasgow in 2014 and against Amir Khan and Kell Brook at welterweight. None of them touched him.
Now 35-year-old Crawford has been world welterweight champion since 2018 and has stopped all seven of his weight victims.
Spence, who is 33 and holds three 147-pound world titles, defeated Brook at Bramall Lane in Sheffield in 2017 and broke the Brit's orbit. This is not to say that British boxing fans do not know about this couple. Those who understand boxing will definitely watch this, but it has not «crossed» as we now say.
Vegas accepted the pair, giving them a platform this week. There were no screams, no screams, no threats. Just good old boxing talk. And less tasteless trade. This is arguably the biggest fight in America since Saul «Canelo» Alvarez fought Gennady Golovkin, and goes back to major events like Oscar de la Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. Not on the same scale in terms of gross income, but exactly the same in boxing terms.
After that, they can fight again. Maybe even a trilogy. I go for a split tie or a narrow win for Crawford thanks to his versatility, adaptability and fighting IQ that allows him to beat his opponents in the first few rounds of the dance. However, Spence, a naturally larger man, showed no signs of weakness. And if this fight lives up to expectations — or there are disagreements — the second time around it will be bigger. It has always been like this.
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