Spence Jr and Crawford 'will show how great boxing is' when they fight
Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford ‘will show how great boxing is’ when they face-off in blockbuster Vegas showdown… as undefeated duo trade verbal blows in press conference
- Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford exchanged verbal blows on Wednesday
- Both boxers will face off at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 29
- Spence holds the IBF, WBC and WBA belts, and Crawford is the WBO champion
‘This is a fight boxing needs,’ announced unified world welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
‘This is the fight the world has been waiting for,’ proclaimed the holder of the other belt Terence Crawford.
Waiting too long? That was the question in the room on Broadway at the Big Apple launch of their super fight. Well, it is hard to deny that both are past their absolute prime. But only a tad.
Bud Crawford is 35 but still third in the pound-for-pound rankings by Ring magazine, the bible of boxing.
Spence The Truth is 33 and still fourth in that reckoning. Behind only Olexsandr Usyk and Japanese phenomenon Nayoa Inoue. Which is a measure of how lavishly talented these two are.
Errol Spence Jr. (left) and Terence Crawford (right) will settle their differences next month
Each vows to scale his pinnacle one more time in Las Vegas on July 29 in a quest for all-time greatness.
Spence said: ‘We are coming together in the kind of fight in which I used to watch Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran take it to each other.’
As a reminder to other boxers who deprive the ever faithful boxing public by swerving the toughest challengers he added: ‘We are showing that there can be a reward for risk.‘
The immediate prize – with Spence’s WBA, WBC and IBF titles and Crawford’s WBO championship at stake – will be the crowing of the first undisputed welterweight king of the four-belt era
Crawford raises the bar even higher by saying: ‘I aim to prove I deserve to be rated along with the Ali’s and Mayweather’s as one of the best of all time‘
Spence: ‘This is the biggest fight in boxing today and we will show how great boxing is when the best fight the best.‘
Both have won all their professional fights with a heavy hitting majority of knock outs and are striving for unconditional recognition.
They still have something to prove. Spence has to authenticate his recovery from a near- fatal high speed car crash and eye surgery.
Crawford is irked by doubts about the quality of his opponents thus far. Both destroyed Kell Brook but Spence also flattened Amir Khan in his resume of higher-class fights.
Spence Jr’s WBA, WBC and IBF titles will be on the line when the two face-off in July
As they spoke the conference was beamed out onto giant screens in Times Square to crowds of summer tourists. Would the excitement be even greater had they done this two or three years ago?
‘It doesn’t matter that it took so long to marinate, ‘ said Crawford. ‘This the fight of our lives.’ Said Spence: ‘We will bring out the very best in each other.’
A realisation that they were in danger of missing the moment chimed through Crawford saying; ‘We the fighters made this happen by ignoring everyone else and talking on the phone to each other.’
An old-fashioned resolution for which the hardest game is duly grateful.
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