After six years of back-and-forth, a pair of near-death experiences, career-threatening injuries and promotional squabbles galore, Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford will finally/mercifully/gloriously clash Saturday night. For most, this is boxing’s most enticing fight, from a pure boxing standpoint, since the dud between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
I’d argue it’s more enticing than that, from a stylistic standpoint (which we addressed Thursday) and an age one (both are younger, still in their primes). But the magnitude is also heightened in terms of history and stakes. Crawford is 35 years old. Spence is 33. Those numbers matter. But so do these:
- Crawford is 39–0 with 30 knockouts. Spence is 28–0 with 22 KOs. Neither has lost a bout since his amateur days (Crawford in 2007; Spence in ’12). That’s 67 wins between them, 52 knockouts between them and zero losses between them.
- The number 2 matters, because Spence is taller, bigger and longer than Crawford—and Spence has already broken a pair of orbital bones in opponents’ faces (Kell Brook in 2017; Yordenis Ugas last year). To be clear, that doesn’t happen often and speaks to more than legitimate power. Crawford, meanwhile, has captured world titles in three divisions (lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight). And, whether Crawford and Spence fight once, twice or three times, it seems nearly certain that Spence will soon move up to super welterweight.
- No exact number here, but this bout could rank among the best welterweight clashes in boxing history. We’re talking top 10, even top five. Think: Sugar Ray Leonard–Thomas Hearns (1981), Pernell Whitaker–Oscar De La Hoya (’97), or De La Hoya–Félix Trinidad (’99), Pacquiao–Miguel Cotto (2009) and, for attention/interest/hype alone, Mayweather-Pacquiao (’15).
- In the four-belt era, which many believe started in 1988 (it’s complicated), this will be the first fight for all four belts and the coveted, if not also oversold and overemphasized, undisputed title.
- This fight is only the 12th unification match-up (meaning more than one major belt at stake but not all) in the history of the welterweight division.
- The bout also marks the fourth welterweight unification fight between undefeated combatants in the division’s history. The other three: Donald Curry–Milton McCrory (1985), De La Hoya–Trinidad and Danny Thurman–Keith Garcia (2017).
- Of those four bouts, Spence and Crawford have the most combined wins.
- Should Crawford triumph, as he expects, given the T-shirts his team members wore to his weigh-in Friday morning (more on that later), he would become the first male boxer to seize undisputed crowns in separate divisions (junior welterweight, welterweight). Claressa Shields was the first female boxer to accomplish that.
