LAS VEGAS – Stephen Espinoza is cautiously optimistic that ongoing negotiations for an Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford showdown will lead to a deal for the undefeated welterweight champions to finally fight.
Espinoza, Showtime’s president of sports and event programming, informed BoxingScene.com on Thursday, however, that there isn’t a plan in place to officially announce Crawford-Spence before or after the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia pay-per-view show Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Like Davis-Garcia, Spence-Crawford would be the main event of a Showtime Pay-Per-View telecast.
“There’s still a ways to go, but we are making progress,” Espinoza told BoxingScene.com following the final Davis-Garcia press conference at MGM Grand’s KA Theatre. “It’s been slow progress, but we’re closer now than we were in the fall. I’m a firm believer that it’s not done until it’s done. You know, we’ve been close before, so I’m gonna be conservative. But overall, I’m optimistic that it gets done.”
Their fight infamously fell apart in October, which led Crawford to make an optional defense of his WBO 147-pound championship against David Avanesyan. Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) knocked out Russia’s Avanesyan (29-4-1, 17 KOs) in the sixth round of their December 10 bout at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska, the 35-year-old Crawford’s hometown.
Spence-Crawford negotiations resumed in recent months, which initiated rampant speculation that Spence-Crawford would be scheduled for June 17.
“I think the fact that there’s been so many rumors out there is really an indication that people just want the fight to happen very badly,” Espinoza said. “And oftentimes, people are connecting dots that shouldn’t be connected. You know, TGB [Promotions] and PBC has June 17th on hold somewhere. And that suddenly became, ‘Oh, that must be the date for Spence-Crawford.’ It’s not June 17th. It never was June 17th, and especially now because there’s not enough time.”
If this round of negotiations results in the completion of a deal, Espinoza suspects Spence-Crawford will take place in “the summer or early fall.”
“Now there’s been the rumor about something happening on Saturday,” Espinoza said in reference to an official announcement on Davis-Garcia fight night. “You know, something could happen at any moment. You could have a breakthrough, get things done and signed. But there is nothing planned at this point, as we sit here, for this Saturday. But I’m optimistic that in the near future we’ll have something to announce.”
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), of DeSoto, Texas, hasn’t fought in more than a year. The IBF/WBA/WBC champ stopped former WBA champ Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) in the 10th round of his most recent fight last April 16 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The 33-year-old Spence appeared headed toward a fight against rival Keith Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) before he and Crawford began speaking to each other directly regarding their fight. Spence and Thurman, a former WBA and WBC welterweight champion from Clearwater, Florida, had agreed to move up to the 154-pound division for what would have been a non-title fight.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.