Crawford - Spence rivalry

[Cent0089]

What do you think guys has this rivalry potential to reach Alvarez - Golovkin rivalry ? And more important. Do you think they will fight each other ? Whole world was watching Mayweather - Pacquiao rivalry and ant the end, 99% was disapointed. Alvarez - Golovkin was a bit less popular worldwide, but still, biggest fights in boxing last years. What is more important we had two entertaining fights whole boxing world watching. Will Spence - Crawford reach that level ? Again, sorry for my english

[Bigdogsnose]

Not sure we’ll ever see it sadly. Think the writings on the wall that Spence moves up. Huge Spence fan and at one point would have favoured him but he’s gotta take the flak for this fight not happening. There to be made, Spence started talking business, Crawford can wait, wrong side of street shit. If he wanted to be the man, he had to beat the man.

[Enlightened-One]

Top Rank won’t attempt to make fights between Crawford and the likes of Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter, as they’ve already expressed their disinterest in facing those guys.

Therefore, Crawford will be forced to face smaller guys making the jump to welterweight, has-beens, no-names or he will start competing at 154lbs.

If beating the likes of Spence Jr., Pacquiao, Thurman, Porter & Garcia were high on Terence Crawford’s list of priorities, he wouldn’t have recently extended his contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank.

Bud must have surely known that not signing with the PBC would limit his opportunities. The American obviously preferred to cash in Top Rank/ESPN’s cheques rather than engage in legacy bouts.

Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. definitely won’t be fighting each other during 2020. 'Bud' will end up facing Kell Brook in the near future (possibly during June or July).

[IKSRTFO]

Top Rank won’t attempt to make fights between Crawford and the likes of Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter, as they’ve already expressed their disinterest in facing those guys.

Therefore, Crawford will be forced to face smaller guys making the jump to welterweight, has-beens, no-names or he will start competing at 154lbs.

If beating the likes of Spence Jr., Pacquiao, Thurman, Porter & Garcia were high on Terence Crawford’s list of priorities, he wouldn’t have recently extended his contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank.

Bud must have surely known that not signing with the PBC would limit his opportunities. The American obviously preferred to cash in Top Rank/ESPN’s cheques rather than engage in legacy bouts.

Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. definitely won’t be fighting each other during 2020. 'Bud' will end up facing Kell Brook in the near future (possibly during June or July).

How is that true when Top Rank recently put Fury in there with Wilder?

[Enlightened-One]

Top Rank won’t attempt to make fights between Crawford and the likes of Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter, as they’ve already expressed their disinterest in facing those guys.

Therefore, Crawford will be forced to face smaller guys making the jump to welterweight, has-beens, no-names or he will start competing at 154lbs.

If beating the likes of Spence Jr., Pacquiao, Thurman, Porter & Garcia were high on Terence Crawford’s list of priorities, he wouldn’t have recently extended his contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank.

Bud must have surely known that not signing with the PBC would limit his opportunities. The American obviously preferred to cash in Top Rank/ESPN’s cheques rather than engage in legacy bouts.

Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. definitely won’t be fighting each other during 2020. 'Bud' will end up facing Kell Brook in the near future (possibly during June or July).

How is that true when Top Rank recently put Fury in there with Wilder?

Like most things in life, there are exceptions.

The only reason why we ended up seeing cross-promotional cross-network super-fights, such as: Tyson-Lewis, Mayweather-McGregor, Mayweather-Pacquiao and Wilder-Fury, was because these were deemed massive revenue generators.

Neither Crawford nor Spence Jr. are considered particularly big names, commercially speaking.

For example:

The viewing average for the Crawford-Kavaliauskas fight was 1.481m, whereas the Charlo-Harrison rematch averaged 2.233m.

I’m not sure how much Kavaliauskas earned, but Crawford took home a guaranteed minimum of $4m, whereas Charlo earned $1m and Harrison’s payday was $500K.

Terence Crawford’s PPV figures are also deeply unimpressive: Amir Khan (150,000); and Victor Postol (55,000).

Crawford’s average viewership for the Kavaliauskas bout is 40% less than the equivalent statistic he achieved for his previous non-PPV event against Benavidez, with both fights broadcast by ESPN.

On the 6th September 2018, Terence Crawford willingly chose to renew his contract with Top Rank, knowing full-well that this would very likely rule out the possibility of bouts between himself and any of the PBC guys until August 2025, but his reward for doing so was to receive a $3m guarantee for all his future bouts under the terms of his new contract.

Simply put, Crawford is overpaid for the viewing figures he attracts.

[gilgamesh]

Crawford's not a draw because all of his talent for the most part is just in theory. We all see he's obviously talented, but he just doesn't have that many high level marquee wins.

He was the 2014 Fighter of the year, and now almost 6 years later he hasn't come close to topping his achievements in that year.

He may have had a victory that rivals it on paper, but nothing that created the kinda buzz for his career that 2014 did, and now he just looks like a guy that has no intention of fighting other top guys.

Aside from not fighting each other. These 2 are doing little to raise their status at all to be honest. Crawford especially.

The fights never gonna be a big draw because THEY are not big draws, and they don't do anything to make themselves big draws either.

If talent alone made you a big money draw they both would be, but it doesn't.

I mean they're definitely draws compared to the average boxer, but I doubt either of them would rank as one of the 5 biggest stars in the sport currently.

Maybe not one of the 10. (not talking about talent there, talking about fan interest)

[Syntax Error]

Probably the dullest rivalry in the sport's recent history.

They're both great fighters and I would certainly watch with relish if they ever fought, but I don't find their so-called rivalry that exciting.

For a rivalry to be exciting, at least one of the protagonists has to have off the scale charisma or a massive following.

Apart from some childish Twatter/Faceache spats like two bitches, they're not that great at engaging with each other.

Also, they both need a body of work the marks them out as top dogs.

Spence obviously has that, but Crawford does not at 147; it's just about potential at the weight with him.

[Bandog]

I really hope Arum gets Crawford a big fight soon. Someone like Danny Garcia, even though Arum calls it a who cares fight. Kell Brook would be good too. (a better fight than Amir Khan) Please no 140 lbers. He may have to begin looking at 154 to get Crawford the quality fights fans want to see, and fights he wants. So far at welterweight Crawford's opponents have been average. He needs to demand it from Arum.

[Syntax Error]

I really hope Arum gets Crawford a big fight soon. Someone like Danny Garcia, even though Arum calls it a who cares fight. Kell Brook would be good too. (a better fight than Amir Khan) Please no 140 lbers. He may have to begin looking at 154 to get Crawford the quality fights fans want to see, and fights he wants. So far at welterweight Crawford's opponents have been average. He needs to demand it from Arum.

Arum is living in cloud cuckoo land if he really believes that a potential Crawford v Danny Garcia fight is a who cares.

That is exactly the sort of fight Crawford needs at 147.

Danny isn't perfect, but he's a high level operator and he'd far and away the best fighter Crawford has faced in a while.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Spence, Crawford Have Spoken Directly Via Phone and FaceTime, Want To Fight

One of the fights boxing fans want to see most is a welterweight unification showdown between two-belt titlist Errol Spence Jr. and titleholder Terence Crawford, both among boxing’s pound-for-pound best.

The fighters also have said repeatedly in interviews that they also both want to fight each other. And they have also said it directly to each other multiple times via phone or FaceTime.

“We talk and say how we gonna make this fight happen,” Spence told Boxing Scene, estimating that he and Crawford have spoken on the phone or via FaceTime about four times.

“We basically go back and forth because I’m my own guy but I don’t handle my own business. So at the end of the day it’s boxing and we both got to get paid for it. I want to get paid for it.”

Both men want to be paid for what shapes up as their most dangerous fight and one that will mean a lot to their ultimate legacy in the sport. Complicating matters are that Spence is part of the Premier Boxing Champions stable, which is deep in the division, and Crawford is with Top Rank.

The outfits can work together even if it is rare. But they did collaborate on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight championship rematch that took place in February and they will do so again for the third fight between the big men that is could take place as soon as mid-December.

So even though Spence does not proclaim that he and Crawford are friends, they do talk about how to make their fight and how it would go.

“Not all the time but there are times we have done that,” he said of the two getting on the phone. “We’re rivals at the end of the day. We basically talk about fighting each other.”

Then Spence adds with a laugh, “He’ll say how he’s gonna kick my ass, things like that, and I say the same thing. He says he’s gonna f--- me up and stuff like that. But we both want (the fight) to happen.

“We have had discussions about the fight. He’s a cool dude. (The talk is) like in basketball. ‘You know what I’m gonna do to you, right?’ We just talking trash, boxing conversation. Just natural boxing jive conversation.”

While the fight perhaps looms it won’t be next. Spence (26-0, 21 KOs), 30, of DeSoto, Texas, is scheduled to defend his unified belts against former welterweight and junior welterweight titlist Danny Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs), 32, of Philadelphia, in the main event of a Fox PPV card on Nov. 21 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, though that could change if fans are allowed to attend cards by then.

The fight will be Spence’s first since he was in a serious car accident last October. He said soon after the accident, Crawford texted him to check in and wish him the best in his recovery.

“He’s not my friend but it’s basically like a respect,” Spence said of his relationship with Crawford.

Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs), 32, of Omaha, Nebraska, does not have a fight set yet but it is likely he will defend his belt against former world titlist Kell Brook (39-2, 27 KOs), 34, of England, on Nov. 14 on ESPN from bubble of the conference center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Spence said he told Crawford that after he gets past Garcia and possible a rematch with Shawn Porter, whom he narrowly outpointed to unify belts last September, he can see the fight happening next year, although Spence also wants to fight legendary titleholder Manny Pacquiao.

“Then there’s nothing left on the table but Terence Crawford,” Crawford said. “Who else would it be?

“I think it’s definitely gonna happen. I don’t know when but, hopefully, I feel like it can happen next year. This fight (with Crawford), I’m definitely going to push for it and Terence has been pushing for it too. Even when we talk on the phone or we FaceTime with each other we talk about it and say, ‘Man, it’s definitely gonna happen, but I got to get past the guys in front of me right now. But the fight is definitely gonna happen.’

“I don’t want to leave the division without fighting him because I don’t want that on my legacy -- people saying that’s the fight that never happened. Crawford is the most intriguing fight. That’s the legacy fight. I feel like that’s the biggest money fight out there for me too, so it would make sense for it to happen.”

[Onetimeonly]

No chance, Mexican Americans fueled that. Crawford/Spence would have ppv on its side compared to most fights now.

[bobcatbox]

I don’t think the rivalry will ever reach the heights of what you’re comparing it to. The welterweight division is at its weakest point in quite some time, as opposed to when May and Pacman were fighting/not fighting each other. Golovkin and Alvarez were two all-time-greats at middleweight. Spence and Crawford are not all-time-greats.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I don’t think the rivalry will ever reach the heights :neutralof what you’re comparing it to. The welterweight division is at its weakest point in quite some time, as opposed to when May and Pacman were fighting/not fighting each other. Golovkin and Alvarez were two all-time-greats at middleweight. Spence and Crawford are not all-time-greaots.

Might be at its weakest, but still one of Thebeest

[sykessta]

No chance, Mexican Americans fueled that. Crawford/Spence would have ppv on its side compared to most fights now.

Let's see. Crawford/Khan did 150k or something like that. So I would be very surprised if Crawford Spence did more than 4 or 500k. As for Spence/Garcia I doubt it does much more than that either but may do more as TR for whatever reason doesn't seem to market Crawford as well as PBC does their fighters.

[world ranked]

I don’t think the rivalry will ever reach the heights of what you’re comparing it to. The welterweight division is at its weakest point in quite some time, as opposed to when May and Pacman were fighting/not fighting each other. Golovkin and Alvarez were two all-time-greats at middleweight. Spence and Crawford are not all-time-greats.

What the difference between GGG being a ATG and Spence not being one ATG based on resume?

[sykessta]

Probably title defenses and MW is a weaker less stacked division than welter. (Was at the time GGG first won his title and through most of his run.) But now MW might be a little more stacked than WW in terms of talent.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Probably title defenses and MW is a weaker less stacked division than welter. (Was at the time GGG first won his title and through most of his run.) But now MW might be a little more stacked than WW in terms of talent.

On his own GGG was a big name but he could do no more than 200k buys on his own.

With Canelo, again he was doing much better numbers but not hitting over 500k without a big name. So if you put the number 1 and 2 Middleweights together, it’s gonna do big numbers. And it did.

Spence hasn’t done bad numbers, plus he’s fought prime guys on PPV, Mikey Garcia and Spence.

Crawford vs. Spence is the BEST welterweight fight today and even next year.. or however long it takes.. it will surely do do some good numbers.

[sykessta]

I was wondering in my head why when I think of GGG I think of an ATG MW and not spence as ATG WW despite them having similar resumes in terms of competition. I guess the tipping factor is GGG fighting Canelo. But touching on the PPV numbers topic I would bet the reason Garcia and Spence did good is because of the Mexican fans. Mikey I would bet is a bigger name than Danny in the sport as well. I would be surprised if Errol and Danny surpass 375k buys as Mikey and Spence did. Boxing is a lot of a bigger deal in Mexico and to latinos compared to the US and other groups in the USA. Crawford could only do 150k buys by himself vs Khan who is somewhat of a name himself. I'll agree that Spence and Crawford would probably do the most buys out of all welters at this point unless Pacquiao fights one of them. But I doubt it would do 1m buys. somewhere in the 500-800k ballpark would be my guess.

[Ruthless-RKO]

But touching on the PPV numbers topic I would bet the reason Garcia and Spence did good is because of the Mexican fans. Mikey I would bet is a bigger name than Danny in the sport as well. I would be surprised if Errol and Danny surpass 375k buys as Mikey and Spence did. Boxing is a lot of a bigger deal in Mexico and to latinos compared to the US and other groups in the USA.

I always said that after the Mikey-Spence numbers were revealed. A lot of Pro-Spence fans didn’t like what I said..

Mikey has a big following always did.

You can even compare their showtime viewership numbers before they even fought.

[Jason Calara]

Good fight but a fight with the pacman is more interesting.

[margaret thatcher]

hell no

[sykessta]

Was just doing some thinking on this subject. This fight DOES NOT happen in 2021 no matter what I would bet big money. Crawford NEEDS to leave TR soon if he wants the fight to happen at a good time with both of them in their prime and make a lot of money. Here is my scenario that would benefit both fighters and fans as well. If Spence and Crawford both fight in November, Spence/Garcia, Crawford/Brook, as rumors suggest. Crawford then leaves TR and signs with Haymon. This now leaves nothing stopping him and Pacquiao fighting each other. IMO Crawford needs catching up to do with spence in terms of resume and recognition. Manny is still in my opinion a very viable opponent just beating Thurman last year and not having a legitimate lost since Floyd. If Terence fights him say spring or first half of 2021 and beats him convincingly this will catapult him into superstardom. In the meantime Errol can fight Thurman. Second half of 2021 Spence fights Khan or maybe Pacquiao and Crawford can fight Thurman, Porter, or maybe even M. Garcia. If all of these fights go through and both men win all of them without much controversy I then believe fans will be clamoring for a fight between the two and a fight in early 2022 can be made that will easily do 1mil PPV buys.

[IRONFIST]

I was calling for this fight long before others. Seems to me Crawford is the one holding up the showdown.

[sykessta]

I was calling for this fight long before others. Seems to me Crawford is the one holding up the showdown.

Just looked it up. Looks like TC's contract with TR is for seven years which was signed in September of 2018. I'm no lawyer so I have not the slightest clue how much it would cost him to get out of the contract and so on. But I bet anything that if he doesn't try to get out of the contract with TR the fight with Spence gets put off for years and years just like May-Pac. But at this stage I don't see anyone at WW in the TR stable that can make him money. He's rumored to be fighting Brook in November but other than that they have nobody at WW. All the top guys are at PBC. This might corner Arum into working with Haymon to get Crawford fights to keep Crawford from leaving although at that point it would just make more sense for TC to leave TR altogether. Probably the reason for the lengthy contract which would take alot of litigation and money for TC to try to get out of. But if Bob doesn't want to get TC fights with pbc fighters and I'm Terence Crawford I would spend the time and money trying to get out of TR.

[IRONFIST]

The Brook fight is a waste of time, the man is shot to pieces along with Khan.