Errol Spence was in his right to take another fight earlier this year and force Terence Crawford to wait on him for a dream fight.
That thought never crossed the unified welterweight titlist’s mind.
The decision by the unbeaten Texan to dig in and negotiate directly with Crawford was the driving force to produce their upcoming July 29 undisputed championship. It will mean more than 15 months out of the ring for Spence, who has grown accustomed to such long gaps between fights.
“They wanted me to get another fight,” Spence admitted to a pool of media members during a virtual press conference to discuss the superfight. “I didn’t want to risk an injury, a cut… anything could happen. I just decided to sit in the house, chill and just wait on the Terence fight, or find out if the fight wasn’t happening and then take another fight. I was willing to sacrifice a payday and another win to wait on Terence.”
The two will meet July 29 on Showtime Pay-Per-View from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Spence (28-0, 22KOs) will risk his IBF, WBC and WBA welterweight titles while Crawford (39-0, 30KOs)—a three-division titlist and two-division lineal champion from Omaha, Nebraska—puts his WBO title on the line.
The welterweight summit meeting was finalized in May. Spence and Crawford reignited talks earlier this year after months’ long negotiations throughout the second half of 2022 ended without a fight. Crawford instead opted for a stay-busy title defense versus David Avanesyan, whom he knocked out in the sixth round of their December 10 clash in his Omaha hometown.
Spence went all in during the previous talks and was forced to regroup. Worse, he was on ice as he had not fought since a tenth-round stoppage of Yordenis Ugas in their three-belt unification last April 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, minutes from his hometown of Desoto, Texas.
There was the option to face Keith Thurman, who accepted the opportunity and was even willing to move forward with a non-title fight at a higher wait. Spence never publicly confirmed a deal was reached and instead dug in during the renewed talks with Crawford to produce the welterweight championship clash more than four years in the making.
“I know the magnitude of this fight and what this means for our legacy,” insisted Spence. “I was willing to wait, he wasn’t. I didn’t want to just go out and fight somebody. I put the ego to the side and got the fight done.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox