NEW YORK – Terence Crawford agreed with Errol Spence Jr. on one thing during their two-city press tour this week.
If the undefeated welterweight champions didn’t start talking directly to each other earlier this year, they wouldn’t have completed a deal for them to finally fight July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Crawford recalled following their second press conference Wednesday at Palladium Times Square that he simply sent Spence a text message one day, which led to them and eventually their handlers negotiating again.
“I feel as if I didn’t call him,” Crawford told a group of reporters, “and we wasn’t in contact with one another that the fight wouldn’t have happened.”
Their representatives – primarily Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon for Spence and Creative Artists Agency’s Ish Hinson for Crawford – negotiated last year, when they frustrated fans by failing to finalize their welterweight title unification fight. Crawford withdrew from those stalled talks last October to make an optional defense of his WBO welterweight title against David Avenesyan, whom Crawford knocked out in the sixth round December 10 at CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
With Spence seemingly set to face rival Keith Thurman in a 154-pound non-title fight, Crawford discussed with promoter Oscar De La Hoya the possibility of defending his title against Alexis Rocha in his first fight of this year. Crawford felt in his heart, however, that he needed to take a different approach to putting together a high-profile fight that has been discussed for the better part of the past five years.
“I wasn’t doing nothing,” Crawford said. “I was just chilling at the house and I sent him a text message. We texted back and forth, and then we got the ball rolling.”
A huge faction of fans and media faulted Crawford for negotiations falling apart last year, yet the three-division champion contends that he wanted this fascinating fight all along.
“Like I said, I been wantin’ the fight,” Crawford said. “And the people had me for the blame why the fight wasn’t happening. And I don’t wanna never go into detail and say or point fingers at anybody, so, you know, I called him up again and said, ‘Hey, listen, you know, let’s get this fight done. Let’s make history. You wanna become undisputed champion of the welterweight division and so do I. So, let’s come together and get this fight done.’ ”
It took a few more months of laborious negotiations, but Crawford and Spence jointly announced May 25 through their social media platforms that they had come to an agreement.
Spence credited Crawford for contacting him first, but the IBF/WBA/WBC champion claims that he was the one that ultimately did what was necessary for them to close their deal.
“You know, [we were] just FaceTiming each other, talking about it and, you know, basically he telling me the demands that he had,” Spence said. “And, you know, basically I had to humble myself and make concessions to what he wanted, even though, you know, certain people in the business thought I wasn’t gonna do it. But, you know, I did it and I feel like I’m the reason why the fight happened.”
The 33-year-old Spence didn’t detail the concessions that he made. The 35-year-old Crawford had never spoken to a potential opponent about deal points before he and Spence discussed virtually every part of their contracts.
“That wasn’t something that I ever done before because there was no need for me to do that,” Crawford said. “The stakes is real high at this point and I recognized that, he recognized that, and that’s why we came together and made the fight that all the fans wanted to be made. And that’s why it’s very important that the fans and everybody support this fight July 29th, because we’re doing it for y’all.”
As Spence stated, they’re doing it for their families and their legacies as well. Unless their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event results in a draw or no-contest, Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) or Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) will become the first fully unified welterweight champion of the four-belt era.
Promoter Tom Brown called Crawford-Spence the most meaningful welterweight title fight since “Sugar” Ray Leonard stopped Thomas Hearns in the 14th round of their September 1981 showdown at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
“It’s just dope that, you know, you got two fighters that humble they self and, you know, basically put other stuff to the side and talk about it and, you know, try to make the fight happen,” Spence said. “Because, you know, I feel like we doing it for our families, not only for legacy, but most importantly, we’re doing it for our families.”
All the trash talk this week notwithstanding, Crawford and Spence seem to like each other. There undoubtedly is real respect between them and they realized that they need each other more than they might’ve been willing to admit last year.
Assuming the loser wants to redeem himself immediately, there is a rematch clause in their contracts that Crawford or Spence will need to activate within 30 days of their fight. If the loser exercises that contractual right, Spence and Crawford would fight a second time before the end of 2023.
There were many more details in his contract that Crawford and his team analyzed and adjusted before he agreed to sign it and they announced that they’ll fight for Crawford’s championship and Spence’s three titles.
“I learned a lot in these last months of, you know, doing and handling my own career and talking with Al Haymon and talking with my handlers, my lawyers and just learning the game,” Crawford said. “It’s so much that goes into making a mega-fight like this that nobody understands. They think that two fighters just agree and bam, here you have it. But there’s a lotta missed detail that goes into making a mega-fight that a lotta people don’t know and don’t understand. And then they fault the fighters for not taking the fight because things wasn’t right in the contract.”
By Keith Idec