Errol Spence Jr. properly credited Terence Crawford as one of boxing’s best pugilists, but he then immediately took exception to Bud’s resume and promised a beatdown when they came face-to-face to promote their long-awaited fight on July 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime pay per view.
“Terence is a great fighter and I’m gonna break another great fighter’s will. Mentally and physically, I’m gonna dominate and come out on top,” said Spence.
“Terence hasn’t fought anybody. Even Shawn Porter said he didn’t train like he should against him. Kell Brook was already broken. I broke Kell Brook’s other eye, that’s how he got broke.”
The three-division champion and current 147-pound titleholder Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) is 7-0 with 7 KOs as a welterweight since 2018, beating the likes of Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez Jr., Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Brook, Porter, and David Avanesyan along the way.
The career-long welterweight Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) stopped Brook in 2017 to win his first world title and scored a split decision against Porter in 2019. Crawford scored TKO wins against Brook in 2020 (fourth round) and Porter in 2021 (10th round).
“This is gonna be a one-sided ass whooping. It’s gonna take a few rounds, because he’s a tough dude. But everyone gets broke and we’re gonna break him down,” said Spence.
Spence is the WBC, WBA, and IBF champion and the winner of the fight will be crowned as boxing’s first undisputed champion of the four-belt era.
“I can guarantee you this is gonna be an action-packed, old-school type of fight,” said Spence. “If you’ve been craving those old fights, you have to tune into this one. This is a legendary fight. Belts aside, you talk about just these two fighters, this is the biggest fight in boxing. Especially because of the action we bring. We’re both going for the victory.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.