There were a ton of different ways that Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford could have played out. Some viewed Spence’s strength, power, and ridiculous work rate as a clear indication that he would eventually overwhelm his man.
Others were convinced that Crawford would simply stay on the outside and box his way to a unanimous decision. Regardless of how fans envisioned it, they normally came to one succinct conclusion…it was going to be one helluva fight. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
Ultimately, Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) took the air and excitement right out of the T-Mobile Arena on July 29th. The pound-for-pound star dominated from the very beginning, dropping Spence in the second round, and twice in the seventh, before finishing him off in the ninth.
As countless jaws hit the ground, Bob Arum, Crawford’s former promoter, wasn’t surprised at all by the outcome. According to the Hall of Famer, Spence might be a great fighter but he’s always had one incredibly obvious flaw.
“Spence can’t fight a lefty,” Arum told Fight Hub TV. “Look at Spence’s body of work. Of all those fights, he only fought two southpaws.”
Arum knows his history well. Only twice has Spence taken on left-handers. In neither instance, however, did he struggle. In 2013, the former Olympian squared off against Emmanuel Lartey, his first left-hander. Spence would go on to win all but one round on the judges’ scorecards. Fast forward two years later, Spence fought another left-hander, this time Chris Van Heerden. The former unified champ barely broke a sweat, stopping the fringe contender in the eighth round.
Crawford isn’t your run-of-the-mill lefty. Naturally, the now 35-year-old switches from southpaw to orthodox. Against Spence, nevertheless, he remained in a southpaw stance. Arum, in his view, believes that Crawford did it purposely.
“Terence’s big strength is that he fights equally well from either side. So instead of opening up as a right-hander, which he usually does, and then switching to southpaw, he only fought Spence as a southpaw and Spence couldn’t handle it.”
By Hans Themistode