Let’s face it, some “sure thing, they have to happen” super fights do not happen. Lennox Lewis-Riddick Bowe, Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao (not until it was far too late, past its peak by some way) are two examples. Now, during this seemingly ever depressing time when the best against the best is becoming more and more of a rarity, it seems very likely we can add a fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence to the list.
Fans have read how three-belt welterweight champion Spence will next fight former 147 pound boss Keith Thurman in a fight up at 154 this April, and it seems unlikely “The Truth” will drop back down to 147 pounds afterwards. Sure, Spence could in theory drop back down – maybe he won’t feel great at 154. But plenty of fans have already suggested we have seen the last of Spence the welterweight. At age 32, having been a big-for-the-weight welter for years, Spence doesn’t figure to drop back down unless it is for something big.
The Crawford fight is – or was – the big one for Spence, and for “Bud,” at 147, but why should we believe the two sides will come together now, when they have jerked us all around before? If anything, Spence departing the welterweight division makes this fight all the more unlikely. No, the only way this fight can happen now, the fight one we all so desperately wanted to see, between two in their prime welterweight champions, is if a deal can be thrashed out at 154. If Spence stays put at 154, might Crawford go up there after him?
Maybe. But the massive shine a Crawford-Spence fight had came in large part because it was a unification showdown, with both men holding all the welterweight titles between them. As per ESPN, Spence has been informed he will have 60 days after the Thurman fight to decide whether he will fight Crawford, and if not, he will be ordered to defend his WBA belt against the winner of the postponed Vergil Ortiz Jr-Eimantas Stanionis fight. What do you guys think Spence will do? It will of course depend on how good Spence looks and feels in the fight with Thurman.
Some great fighters, Thomas Hearns for one, went up in weight in search of a big fight, before dropping back down in weight in search of another big fight/world title. Spence could do the same, and that Crawford fight could, in theory, still happen. But nobody is holding their breath.
Is it too early to file Spence Vs. Crawford as a super fight that got away?
