By: Sean Crose
There’s no doubt he received a terrible beating at the gloved hands of Terence Crawford this summer, the kind of beating that alters careers. Still, former WBC, WBA, and IBF welterweight titlist Errol Spence has activated a rematch clause, which subsequently sets up a rematch with Crawford in the near future. The news, which broke on Thursday, may not have come as a surprise but it certainly raised some eyebrows. Although both Spence and Crawford were essentially seen as evenly matched before their much hyped superbout, Crawford went on to completely overwhelm his foil, stopping Spence in the ninth round of a scheduled twelve round battle.
Still, there’s no denying that Spence has a warrior’s heart. While it’s certainly true a second go round with Crawford will guarantee the Texan a lot of money, there’s only so much damage the human body can absorb – and Spence absorbed a lot of damage squaring off against Crawford last July in Las Vegas. Even if the rematch takes place at junior middleweight rather than at welterweight, as the first bout did, it’s hard to imagine a few pounds making all that much of a difference. The sport of boxing is full of surprises, however, Indeed, boxing is an endeavor wherein a participant can never truly be written off. And Spence is nothing if not the picture of a game combatant.
He’s also a man not used to losing. In a twenty-nine fight career, Spence has lost but a single time, and that was to Crawford a few weeks back. Rather, he’s met and bested numerous fighters of note, such as Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, Chris Algieri, Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, and Yordenis Ugas, among others. In short, Crawford is used to winning, and clearly wants to start winning again, particularly against Crawford, who looked like a master besting a pupil during their first match.
As for Crawford, the Omaha native is no doubt pleased with this latest career development. A second major bout with an opponent he already beat once – and with relative ease, no less – must seem like a no-lose proposition. The question now is whether or not fans will want to see the two men do battle once more. The first fight was so one sided that the idea of coughing up money for another Crawford-Spence pay per view (and it will most certainly be a pay per view affair) may appear less than enticing, especially to casual fans.
Again, though, this is boxing, and Errol Spence should never be entirely written off.