In some ways, it felt a little bit like going back in time watching, or reading about, yesterday’s initial (the first of many) press conference ahead of the July super fight between unbeaten welterweight champions Terence Crawford and Errol Spence. Certainly, both rival champions spoke about history, with Crawford, 39-0(35) talking about the great eras of the past, and with Spence, 28-0(22) stating how fans who have been craving an old-school fight, the type of which came in the 1970s and ’80s, will be satisfied come the night of July 29.
Of course, the obvious (indeed painfully obvious) comparison as far as the upcoming 147 pound unification showdown goes, is the 1981 classic Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns thrilled the world with. And Crawford mentioned both Leonard and Hearns, while Spence boasted how his upcoming fight will be “a legendary fight.”
In light of how a number of seemingly possible to make big fights have failed to be made, it is certainly refreshing, a shot in the arm for all fight fans, that Crawford Vs. Spence is happening. A genuine mega fight, as well as an excruciatingly tough to call 50-50 match up, this for-all-the-marbles unification clash has got lots of people thinking back to those special battles from years gone by – with the two fighters taking a trip down memory lane themselves.
“If you’ve been craving an old-school fight, the kind of great fights from the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, this is the one for you,” WBA/IBF/WBC welterweight champ Spence said yesterday. “This will be a legendary fight, an old-school fight, the kind my dad told me about.”
Crawford, as aware as Spence is of the defining fights the great ones had, spoke about the one and only Sugar Ray Robinson, along with Hearns and Leonard, and Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
“You’re going to witness greatness,” Crawford, the reigning WBO welterweight champion said of his upcoming, defining fight. “You’ve heard of the past eras in boxing, you’ve got the Ray Robinson era, the Leonard-Hearns-Hagler-Duran era, even the Mayweather-Pacquiao era. Well, this is the Terence Crawford era.”
Maybe. Or maybe, when the dust settles in Las Vegas on July 29, it will become the Errol Spence era. This is how much will be at stake on the night, the debate over who is the pound-for-pound best in the sport today to also be settled.
But never mind the greatness of the two practitioners; how great will the Spence-Crawford fight prove to be? Will it be a Leonard-Hearns? A Hagler-Hearns? A Robinson-Basilio? Or a Mayweather-Pacquiao? Or maybe something else entirely? Might Crawford and Spence wind up fighting more than once, maybe more than twice?
History has been spoken of in the lead-up to this fight, the biggest and most meaningful fight in the sport today, and hopefully a fight befitting the lauded nights of historic, never to be forgotten ring battles will be put forth on the evening of July 29.
No additional pressure on Crawford or Spence, then! Both guys know the stakes, and they both seem up to the task of delivering. Who wins? That’s up to you.
