Errol Spence Jr. has picked apart most of Terence Crawford’s wins within the welterweight division.
Crawford’s rival has pointed out that the three-division champion’s stoppages of Shawn Porter, Kell Brook and Amir Khan came against faded fighters who were clearly compromised by the time the unbeaten WBO welterweight champ took them out. Spence is certain that he defeated fresher versions of Porter, whom he beat by split decision in September 2019, and Brook, who lost by 11th-round knockout to Spence six years ago.
Spence also noted that Virgil Hunter, Khan’s former trainer, has said that Khan wasn’t the same fighter following his brutal sixth-round knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in May 2016 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Khan’s loss to Alvarez took place almost three years before Crawford defeated England’s Khan by sixth-round technical knockout in April 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Crawford considers his 12th-round TKO victory over Jose Benavidez Jr. his most difficult fight since he gave up the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 140-pound titles to compete in the 147-pound division. That admission is telling, too, according to Spence, who will finally fight Crawford in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event July 29 at T-Mobile Arena ($84.99).
“It was a good fight,” Spence stated. “He fought a one-legged Jose Benavidez, and it was the toughest fight of his career. It says a lot.”
When asked to elaborate on what that says about Crawford, Spence replied, “I mean, he fought a one-legged Jose Benavidez. So, what do you think it says?”
A then-unbeaten Benavidez infamously favored his right leg, particularly during the second half of his fight with Crawford in October 2018. Benavidez (27-2-1, 18 KOs) has admitted that his right leg, which has rods and screws in it, was never the same after he suffered significant damage to it in a career-threatening, unsolved shooting while he walked his dog in August 2016 in his hometown of Phoenix.
Benavidez trailed on all three scorecards – 110-99, 108-101 and 107-102 – when Crawford dropped and stopped him in the 12th round at CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
“I feel like I did amazing,” Benavidez told BoxingScene.com late in 2021 about his loss to Crawford. “A lot of people thought I was gonna get stopped in two, three rounds. You know, I was actually trying to fight Crawford right before I got injured. I feel like me being injured played a big part in that fight, but I’m not gonna make excuses. He beat me. He was better than me that night. But I was honestly fighting with one leg, and I feel like I gave him a great fight.”
Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) beat Benavidez in his first defense of the WBO welterweight title. He’ll put it on the line for the seventh time versus Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), whose IBF, WBA and WBC belts will be at stake as well.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.