Finally.
The megafight between Errol Spence and Terence Crawford has finally arrived.
The fight took years to make, but both men will finally step inside the ring tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 12-round bout will air live on Showtime Championship Boxing Pay-Per-View (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).
At Friday’s weigh-in, Spence weighed in at 147 pounds. Crawford weighed 146.8 pounds.
The process to make the fight was not an easy one. A few years ago, Crawford was tied into a contract with Top Rank, which has a television deal with ESPN. Spence fights under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) umbrella, which has an exclusive deal with Showtime.
Crawford became a promotional free agent after his knockout win over Shawn Porter in October 2021. He returned to the ring on December 10, making a defense of his WBO world welterweight title against David Avanesyan.
Spence has not fought since April 16 of last year, stopping Yordenis Ugas to win his WBA world title. Spence already held the WBC and IBF world title belts.
Both fighters reportedly, in recent months, reached out to one another to finalize and make the fight happen.
Despite the delay in finalizing the fight, Stephen Espinoza, president of Showtime Sports, is glad the fight eventually got made.
“I think fights generally do happen at the right time,” Espinoza recently told BoxingScene. “Sure, there were opportunities where the fight could’ve happened earlier, but it probably wouldn’t be for the undisputed (world) title. I’d feel different if you saw any diminution in their skills over time. But these guys are still top three, top four fighters in the sport. They’re still demolishing everyone we put them in the ring with. So I don’t think the fans have lost anything from a matchup three years ago to today. They’re still two of the best fighters. I think the winner is the best fighter in the sport, by far.”
Spence is 33 and Crawford is 35. Even as the criticism leading up to the fight was that both fighters are past their prime, Espinoza believes both fighters are at their peak of their careers.
There were even points during negotiations when Espinoza had some doubts the fight would get made, but he remained positive and steadfast throughout the process.
“I think there were points during the process, variously everyone involved probably thought (the fight) was not going to happen,” said Espinoza. “Not necessarily at the same time, but there were days when they each separately had their doubts. There were multiple times I thought, ‘This is too much to overcome.’ And I think one of the low points was last fall when Terence decided to take a different fight. And I think there was a big question in everybody’s mind whether there were going to be any more discussions, because you never know if someone signs with a different network or decides to go in a different direction and that throws a monkey wrench.
“So, it was not a smooth process, but in a funny sort of way, the fight falling apart last fall provided the motivation to get it done because there was a sour taste in everyone’s mouth and we all walked away thinking what a missed opportunity it was. And then, when we were able to come back together and start conversations again, I think it made people more committed to make sure (the fight) happened, come hell or high water.”
The Spence-Crawford fight has been part of a stellar 2023, which has seen stellar fight cards take place. On the PBC/ Showtime side, the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant fight on March 25 and the April 22 clash between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan Garcia were successful pay-per-view cards that attracted a lot of views and media coverage as well.
Both fight cards took place in Las Vegas.
Seeing what both cards did commercially may have had some effect on both Spence and Crawford finalizing tonight’s fight. At least both cards gave a push for this fight to be finalized, according to Espinoza.
“Maybe so, maybe it added a little bit of urgency. As you saw from the press (conferences), neither guy needed more motivation to make the fight happen. But, if they needed some added incentive and motivation seeing these big fights, and having the competitiveness kick in, and say, ‘Wow, everyone is having these big events in Vegas. We want our time in the sun.’ That, I think added a little bit to the pressure. I still think (the fight) would’ve gotten done without it, but certainly seeing these big events, and as competitive as these two guys are, and fighters in general, they don’t want to be the ones to not deliver as a whole when others are delivering.”
Espinoza has been involved in boxing for several years. The El Paso native graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and eventually received his law degree. He served as an attorney for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, before currently serving as President of Showtime Sports.
The 53-year-old has been involved in some of boxing’s biggest fights, including the 1999 clash between De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad.
As far as promotions and negotiations go, Espinoza believes tonight’s Spence-Crawford is and will be difficult to defeat as far as hype and anticipation.
“In terms of the quality of the fight, the potential, this is as good as any fight that I’ve ever been involved in in my career. That’s not a slight to anything else, these are two of the best fighters in the sport, fighting at their absolute peak with everything on the line. Undefeated fighters, history, legacy, No. 1 pound-for-pound, the style matchup, all of that.
“I can’t think of another fight that had all of those elements all together in one fight that was as much a can’t-miss-fight as this one is.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing