Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford strongly disagreed Tuesday about the importance of Crawford’s 10th-round technical knockout of Shawn Porter.
Crawford’s stoppage of Porter is considered the three-division champion’s best win since he moved up to welterweight from junior welterweight five years ago. Porter, a former IBF and WBC 147-pound champ, took Spence the distance and lost their 12-round title unification bout by split decision two years before Crawford fought Porter.
Spence contended during his press conference with Crawford at The Beverly Hills Hotel that Crawford defeated a lesser version of Porter than he beat in September 2019 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. An incredulous Spence took exception when Crawford claimed beating Spence in their 12-round welterweight showdown July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas would make Crawford the best fighter of their era.
“I’m not gonna lie – Top Rank got the best matchmakers in the business,” Spence said in reference to Crawford’s former promoter. “You ain’t fought nobody, man. You haven’t beat anybody. Undisputed at 140. Who you fought at 135? And who you fought at 147? Even [when] you fought Shawn Porter, even Shawn Porter said he did not train like he should. He didn’t do the things that his daddy told him to do.”
Crawford interjected to contest Spence’s statement.
“What did I do to Shawn Porter that you couldn’t do?,” Crawford asked.
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) continued to cite what Porter’s father/trainer, Kenny Porter, stated after his son’s loss to Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs).
“What are you talkin’ about?,” Spence said. “Even his daddy said it. Even his daddy said it. Even his daddy said it.”
Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) announced his retirement during the post-fight press conference following his loss to Crawford at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Once they were done discussing Porter, Spence brought up the other former welterweight champion Crawford beat after him.
“Even Kell Brook, he was already broken,” Spence said. “What are you talkin’ about?”
Crawford stopped Brook in the fourth round of their November 2020 bout at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Crawford reminded Spence that he beat Brook in the fight after Brook suffered a fractured orbital bone around his right eye during a fifth-round, technical-knockout loss to Gennadiy Golovkin. Brook moved up two weight classes – from welterweight to middleweight – to challenge a then-unbeaten Golovkin in September 2016 at O2 Arena in London.
“No, he wasn’t broken,” Spence said of Brook. “I broke the other eye. I broke the other eye. Yeah, that’s how it got broke. That’s how it got broke.”
Brook suffered another fractured orbital bone, this time around his left eye, during his 11th-round knockout loss to Spence. Crawford repeatedly asked Spence if Brook was “broken” when Spence challenged Brook for the IBF welterweight title in May 2017 at Bramall Lane, a soccer stadium in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield, England.
“What does it matter?,” Spence asked. “What does it matter? No, he wasn’t broken.”
Spence then posed a comparable question to Crawford, who will face an opponent who overcame damage to his mouth and other injuries during a one-car accident in October 2019 and surgery to repair a damaged left retina in August 2021.
“I had the same surgery [Brook] had, and what happened?,” Spence said. “So, what that say about you then, you fightin’ me then? So, what that say? So, I’m broken then, right?”
Crawford promised that will be the end result for Spence when they finally fight next month.
“You gonna be broken July 29th,” Crawford replied. “You gonna be broken July 29th.”
Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Spence, of DeSoto, Texas, will fight for Crawford’s WBO welterweight title and Spence’s IBF, WBA and WBC crowns in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event six weeks from Saturday. They will conclude their two-city press tour Wednesday in New York.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.