Great boxing rivalries can only take place, and be settled, if both sides absolutely, truly want the fight, or fights. Imagine if Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns never had a powerful, insatiable desire to find out who was the best between them? Imagine if Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier never did. And while neither Terence Crawford nor Errol Spence can be compared to either of the four legends mentioned above (not yet anyway), these two brilliant and unbeaten fighters have the power to give us the most intensely and evenly matched unification fight today.
Crawford Vs. Spence, Spence Vs. Crawford – whoever you see as the A-side – is a fight that needs to happen. Yet Crawford (who must get past Kell Brook before he can even think about any other fight) has said that there is a good chance a fight between him and Spence (who must get past Danny Garcia before he can even think about any other fight) might not happen.
As per a piece on Ringtv.com, which picked up on some stuff “Bud” said whilst on a Zoom chat ahead of this Saturday’s fight with Kell Brook (who is promising to pull off the massive upset in Vegas) – a super-showdown of a fight between Crawford and Spence “might fall by the wayside.”
“It might,” Crawford said when asked if a fight between him and Spence might fail to happen. “I’ve accomplished so much in the sport of boxing that I [don’t] really need him. If that fight doesn’t happen, I don’t feel like it [would hurt] my legacy. It just hurts the legacy of the welterweight division.”
It would indeed be a crying shame if these two welterweights, arguably if not clearly the two best in the world at 147 pounds today, didn’t get it on. But if Crawford is cool with the fight not taking place, what can we do about it? Spence wants it, as does Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum. And of course, we fans want to see the fight.
But over the years, there have, unfortunately, been bigger, even more important match-ups that failed to get nailed down. It is, regrettably, less and less frequent for the absolute best to fight the absolute best these days. Let’s hope Crawford and Spence can come to an agreement that will prove so agreeable to the boxing fans of the world. And to the rich history of the welterweight division.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YpnVIDJfhc