Welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford appears to have least one New Year’s resolution: tweet more often. That is, tweet more often at division rival Errol Spence Jr.
The Omaha, Nebraska native unleashed a slew of fiery tweets directed at Spence on Sunday night, apparently in response to a tweet that Spence posted earlier about his willingness to fight anyone in the weight class.
y’all can believe the bs if you want ion 🦆 nothing
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) January 5, 2020
Crawford flexed his fingers and responded in kind.
“So what’s been the hold up homie?” Crawford wrote. “When I came to the division y’all all said I had to get a title first. Now you changed yo mind and talking about wrong side of the street. So I’m just here for another excuse what’s up.”
So what’s been the hold up homie? When I came to the division y’all all said I had to get a title first. Now you changed yo mind and talking about wrong side of the street. So I’m just here for another excuse what’s up.
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) January 6, 2020
A Spence-Crawford unification fight is one of the best possible matchups in the sport. But efforts to make it are borderline nonexistent because both fighters are aligned with rival entities. Bob Arum’s Top Rank, which promotes Crawford, generally doesn’t do business with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which manages Spence. The Feb. 22 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight is an exception.
The 32-year-old Crawford (36-0, 27 knockouts) is coming off an entertaining beat down of competent but unknown Egidijus Kavaliauskas on Dec. 14 in New York City. Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) is recovering from a car crash in October, in which he was ejected from his Lamborghini. He appeared to be in good health when he was interviewed during the Tony Harrison-Jermell Charlo card on Dec. 21. He said he would return to the ring in the summer. In his last fight, Spence outpointed Shawn Porter in a thrilling title-unification bout on Sept 28.
Keep defending him because I’m tell all y’all now and I mean what I say when that day come when I knock him all I want all y’all to keep that same energy because he gone cry in the car he wasn’t built for this shit I got over here just watch me show the world
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) January 6, 2020
The promotional gridlock hurts Crawford more than it does Spence, 29. Therein lies the source of Crawford’s evident frustration. Crawford’s 2018 campaign was dogged by his inability to land a significant fight, as Top Rank simply does not have access to the best welterweights in the division. PBC, on the other hand, has a host of viable options for Spence to keep things in-house, including titleholder Manny Pacquiao and Danny Garcia. A Pacquiao-Spence fight, in particular, would do great business.
Crawford isn’t buying that as a legitimate argument. He accused Spence – and for that matter, every other PBC welterweight – of hiding behind their handlers. “… Stop using the f- promoters, managers and advisors for that weak ass excuse y’all doing they work for us y’all dumb mf if you really want a fight you tell them i don’t give two f—s that’s who I want to fight. let yo nuts drop you say you yo own boss…”
And stop using the fucking promoters, managers and advisors for that weak ass excuse y’all doing they work for us y’all dumb mf if you really want a fight you tell them i don’t give two fucks that’s who I want to fight. let yo nuts drop you say you yo own boss @ErrolSpenceJr
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) January 6, 2020
There is also the question of whether Spence will be ready to engage in a high-level bout anytime soon. If the plan is for Spence to take a tune-up and then aim for showdowns against Pacquiao and Garcia, it may be close to two years before a Crawford fight enters the realm of possibility.
In other words, brace yourselves for more tweets.