LAS VEGAS – Terence Crawford will gladly grant Errol Spence Jr. the immediate rematch he is contractually owed at the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
Spence doesn’t want to put his 33-year-old body through the tortuous process of getting down to 147 pounds again. The southpaw feels he will be a fresher fighter at junior middleweight and would have a better chance of defeating Crawford in their second fight if it is contested at that division’s limit of 154 pounds.
The 35-year-old Crawford admitted after his dominant performance Saturday night that he also had difficulty draining his body down to 147 pounds for their long-awaited 12-round title unification fight at T-Mobile Arena.
As the loser of their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event, Spence has a contractual right to exercise his immediate rematch clause within 30 days of Saturday night. As the winner, Crawford can dictate the weight at which their second fight will be contested.
After dropping Spence three times and stopping him in the ninth round of a one-sided bout, Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is completely confident that he could soundly defeat Spence at a higher weight as well.
“It definitely don’t have to be at ’47,” Crawford said when asked about their rematch during their post-fight press conference. “Like I said, you know, I’m in a hurt business. [Making] ’47 was kinda hard for me, too. I was already talkin’ about moving up in weight and challenging [Jermell] Charlo. So, ’54 wouldn’t be out [of] reach of anything.”
Crawford, who began his career near the lightweight limit of 135 pounds 15 years ago, has competed at welterweight since June 2018. The former undisputed junior welterweight champion has beaten each of his eight welterweight opponents by knockout or technical knockout since he moved up from 140 pounds to 147 five years ago.
Crawford didn’t fight at the 140-pound limit again after he knocked out Namibia’s Julius Indongo (then 22-0) in the third round to become the fully unified champion in that division in August 2017. He seems more than willing to relinquish his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts again now that he has been crowned boxing’s first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era.
Spence indicated before Crawford confirmed that he would oppose Spence at 154 pounds that he would have to think long and hard about boxing in the welterweight division again.
“It’s something I gotta talk to my management about,” Spence said, “but hopefully it’s at 154.”
Except for one fight against Chris van Heerden nearly eight years ago, Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) has boxed at or near the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds throughout his 10½-year professional career. The DeSoto, Texas native noted after suffering a surprisingly lopsided loss to Crawford that his body didn’t feel quite the same Saturday night as it did in the previous instances when he rehydrated after squeezing down to 147 pounds.
“I mean, it’s always difficult,” Spence said. “But like I said, I don’t make any excuses. The better man won tonight.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.