By: Sean Crose
Undisputed welterweight titlist Terence Crawford has told Travis Hartman that Errol Spence has indeed activated the rematch clause for a second go round between the two fighters. “He exercised his rematch,” said Crawford, “and that’s the fight that’s supposed to happen next…we shall see how negotiations go.” Crawford then added: “We supposed to fight in December, and yeah, I’m back in training.” Whether he’s going to fight Spence in December as indicated remains to be seen. Still, it’s notable that Spence is willing to step in the ring to face Crawford once more.
The initial fight between the two top boxers, which went down this past summer, ended up being far more one sided than most anyone could have expected. Crawford absolutely dominated Spence, despite the fact that the two men were largely seen as being evenly matched. The fight ended up being wisely stopped in the ninth round by the referee. Spence, his face a bloody, puffy mess, was simply absorbing too much punishment. Spence fans have made their excuses since the fight, of course, one of those excuses being that Spence was weight drained entering the undisputed welterweight championship bout.
So will Spence and Crawford fight a division up, at junior middleweight, the second time around? “Well,” Crawford said, “the contract states that either one or the other gotta notify in writing that he can no longer make the weight.” Crawford appears comfortable with the prospect of facing Spence at 154 if need be. “If not,” he said, “then the fight will be at 147. The contract states that it has to go at 47 since neither I or Errol notified each other stating that we can’t make the weight.”
With that being said, it’s hard to imagine Spence coming back to defeat Crawford at any weight, so dominant was Crawford in their initial fight. While there’s no question, despite what some now enjoy saying, that Spence is a terrific fighter, he simply wasn’t in the same league as Spence when the two men battled back in July. Of course, boxing being boxing, one never knows how the second Crawford-Spence fight might play out. In the meantime, there’s talk of Crawford going up to face super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez. Crawford is too experienced a pro, however, to keep his mind off the task at hand, whether it’s a rematch with Spence, a December stay-busy fight, or any other that challenge that’s put in his way.
