Crawford claims he is top dog at 147 and challenges Errol Spence
Well, there is no denying that WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (38-0, 29 KO’s) blew new life into his rivalry with Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr (27-0, 21 KO’s). In his last tour of duty, Bud faced the challenge of welterweight road warrior “Showtime” Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KO’s). It was the fifth defense of his WBO title, and arguably the toughest fight of his career.
Going into the bout, there was a widespread belief, if not hope, that Bud and Showtime would provide a memorable dustup. This is exactly what they did. As he continues to do over the years, Porter displays news wrinkles and more evolution. Throughout the first half of the bout, the Ohio native bedeviled Crawford with his sneaky ambush attacks. By not providing constant pressure, as his tradition, he kept Bud off balance and largely controlled the action.
While Porter may have dictated the overt dynamics of the early rounds, Crawford was masterfully sharp-shooting in spots and investing shots to the body. In the second half of the battle, these efforts paid dividends when the WBO champion clipped and dropped Porter. To this point, Crawford was in league with every other Showtime opponent in that he was being pushed to his limits. Then Bud separated himself from the pack by doing what no fighter has done and that was force his corner to throw in the towel.
I’M TELLING THE TRUTH!
It must be said though, that the stoppage was wildly questionable. Porter’s father and chief second, Kenny Porter, felt he was saving his son from further harm. This could have been true, but the buzzkill ending was like a bowl of cold lumpy oatmeal after a delicious dinner. Putting the finale to the side, Crawford finally proved against grand competition that he really is that good. Fresh off the impressive outing, of course the burning question was who did he want next? Despite vowing not to talk about him again, Crawford called out Errol Spence anew.
“Who is number one in the welterweight division, no?! You already know who I want. I been calling him out all day. Maybe I’ll go up to 154. Maybe if Spence get his tail out his butt, he’ll fight me, whatever. I’m with whatever.”
LET’S GET IT DONE!
There actually could have been a classic confrontation that transpired. This is because Spence was in the audience for the fight. Well, he was there up until the point that Bud won and then the Truth and his crew all but ran out of the arena. So, by the time that Crawford had a mic in his hand, Spence had already high-tailed it. That is regrettable. But it’s great that there is new interest, and pressure, for this match.
Now that both Spence and Bud have danced with Porter, their drastically different performance demands that they square off with one another. Well, that’s what we’d love to see. Yet, there is nothing new about that at all. So, as always, in the end we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
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By: Bakari Simpson
