Bob Arum Speaks on Potential Spence-Crawford Fall Bout
In a recent interview, Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions indicated that a bout between WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (35-0, 26 KO’s) and IBF welterweight champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr (25-0, 21 KO’s) could be take place in the fall of this year.
This is the prizefight that boxing fans have clamored for since the moment Crawford entered the welterweight division.
“We are still optimistic that we can make the fight everybody wants to see, and that’s Crawford against Spence. I think Spence wants the fight and hopefully we’ll get it done.
“[Spence] probably is not fighting Shawn Porter. Obviously, if that fight was made, it would be announced.
“So, the fight can’t be made. ‘Why can’t the fight be made?’ It’s not a pay-per-view fight and no one can afford the amount of money that Spence wants for a fight.
“The only way to make that money is to fight Crawford.”
While Arum’s reveal is somewhat a surprise, it is not a complete shock. Over the course of the past couple of weeks, speculation has run wild regarding Team Spence’s next move.
Many believed ‘The Truth’ was going to have a third quarter rumble with WBC welterweight champion Shawn “Showtime” Porter (30-2-1, 17 KO’s).
The two had verbally agreed to fight one another and everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly. In fact, Porter has publicly stated he signed his portion of the contract and was waiting on Spence to do likewise.
Yet, there was no formal fight announcement to follow.
A Change of Plans?
To add further mystery to the matter, Crawford posted a rather cryptic post on his InstaGram account on June 4.
In the post, Crawford spoke on being able to patiently wait on something while maintaining a good disposition. However, what caught most folks attention was the fact that he posted his location as being in Dallas, Texas. This is the current home base of Spence Jr.
Naturally, this gave many in the boxing community the notion that Spence and Crawford were in negotiations.
Taking this into consideration, along with the fact that Spence Jr had yet to sign his portion of the Porter contract, a Crawford v Spence bout appeared more and more plausible. Now, with Arum going public, it’s all but a guarantee that the two teams really are trying to hammer something out.
This is boxing, so you don’t want to get your hopes up too high. Although, at the moment, it appears that we are very close to getting the welterweight super fight that we’ve been wanting.
Let’s hope that some official good news is on the way shortly!
By: Bakari Simpson
