NEW YORK – Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford have challenged boxing fans to support their pay-per-view fight by buying it at a rate commensurate with its importance today and its historical significance.
If Spence-Crawford produces a substantial buy rate, the unbeaten welterweight champions contend that such success will encourage other elite-level boxers and those that take financial risks on comparable pay-per-view events to continue doing so. Spence acknowledged, though, that it is also incumbent upon him and Crawford to deliver the type of unforgettable fight that the five-year buildup toward it suggests Spence-Crawford can become once the bell rings July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) hopes his long-awaited showdown with Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) is remembered the way boxing fans feel about such fascinating fights as “Sugar” Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns in September 1981.
Leonard won what was voted “Fight of the Year” by numerous outlets by technical knockout in the 14th round at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Hearns entered the ring unbeaten and led Leonard on all three scorecards through 13 rounds, but Leonard stopped him in their fight for Hearns’ WBA and Leonard’s WBC welterweight titles.
“For us, we just gotta make sure that how exciting it is on paper, we gotta make it exciting off paper and when we get in the ring,” Spence said. “We gotta make sure that people are gonna remember this fight and people are gonna talk about it how they talk about Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns, and all the great fights 40 years ago. I want somebody, my kid or somebody else kid, you know, 20, 30 years from now, to watch it on YouTube.
“They’re amateurs, they’re watching our fight like, ‘Man, one day, I wanna be in a fight like that.’ Or, ‘One day, you know, I wanna be in the lead of a fight like that.’ And they have documentaries about me and Terence Crawford, and you know, how it occurred and, you know, how the fight happened and what happened before the fight. So, you know, it’s a great moment in history, it’s a great moment just for boxing and myself.”
Crawford, 35, or Spence, 33, will emerge as boxing’s first fully unified welterweight champion of the four-belt era unless their fight results in a draw or no-contest. Spence, a southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, and Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, will fight for Spence’s IBF, WBA and WBC 147-pound titles and Crawford’s WBO belt in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event ($84.99; 8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PDT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.