Errol Spence Jr. reiterated that Terence Crawford remains in his plans.
The welterweight titleholder, who has recovered from his horrible car crash in October, insists the fight can – and will – happen in spite of the fighters’ competing promotional-managerial and television loyalties.
“[That fight can happen] whenever, this year or next. We are going to fight. If we do not fight this year, it will definitely be next year,” Spence said to FightHype.com.
Spence was expected to fight Danny Garcia early this year but those plans changed the moment Spence’s Ferrari hit a center median and flipped multiple times, ejecting the boxer. Somehow he survived and has returned to training.
He reportedly is targeting Garcia again for a fight this summer, assuming the coronavirus shutdown ends and boxers are able to get back to work.
Spence also had been a possible opponent for Manny Pacquiao but the Filipino icon appears to focusing his efforts on making a fight with Mikey Garcia this summer.
Meanwhile, Crawford, a Top Rank fighter whose top rivals are aligned with Premier Boxing Champions, has had trouble finding legitimate opponents since becoming a 147-pounder.
While the PBC welterweights have been fighting each other the past few years, Crawford has fought Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez Jr., Amir Khan and Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Those foes were solid but no where near Crawford’s level.
And Crawford reportedly has not embraced the possibility of facing Shawn Porter, the PBC fighter who lost a close decision to Spence last September and a genuine threat to Crawford. The Nebraskan is reportedly leaning toward a fight with Kell Brook, who was stopped by Spence in 2017.
Brook outpointed Porter in 2014 but most observers believe the Brit is in decline, which means he would be perceived as another second-tier opponent for Crawford.
Maybe Crawford is holding out his best-possible opponent, Spence. That’s certainly the fight fans want to see. And apparently Spence does too.