Statement Victory & Opportunities Ahead
Terence Crawford went out there this Saturday night and displayed for the ESPN audience that he is a bad man! The elite Welterweight and P4P mainstay improved to 37-0, adding a fourth round TKO over the former champion Kell Brook.
When this fight was announced I was disappointed given where it looked like Kell Brook was at in his career. Since his back-to-back knockout losses to GGG and Errol Spence Jr, Brook struggled with cutting weight and generally didn’t look the same in the ring.
Leading up to this WBO Welterweight bout, the former champ looked highly motivated and in peak physical form. He fought confidently in the first three rounds and showed great patience and discipline. His lead jab and right straight won him the first quarter of the fight and he visibly damaged Terence Crawford’s right eye.
Then the fourth round happened and Terence Crawford landed a thunderous right hand which knocked Kell into the ropes and onto the canvas. He was able to beat the count, but almost immediately felt the pressure of Crawford teeing off and finishing him.
This was the type of performance that Terence Crawford needed to keep the viewing public engaged and it paid off. Many analysts and fans on Twitter are begging for Terence to get a legitimate opponent from PBC to cross the line, most notably Errol Spence Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
It’s clear the next fight we need is Crawford-Spence, assuming Spence is healthy enough following his car crash and shows that he hasn’t lost a step versus Danny Garcia on December 5th. From what I have heard in interviews of those closely connected to Spence, and the confidence I see in himself and his team, the consensus is that he is fully healthy and ready to continue his championship reign.
As a fan, I want nothing more than to see those two men fight. Based on what I saw tonight from Crawford, I see Spence defeating Crawford easier than most currently believe.
Crawford is known to start fights slowly and Kell showed that he was able land some shots on the champ and control the ring from the start. He did not have the activity to fully take advantage of the opportunity, but from what I saw, Crawford will have a long night if he were to start that fight with the same slow pace against someone with as much power and speed as Spence.
Crawford will prove to be larger than perceived once in the ring with Spence, but Spence has valuable experience fighting Shawn Porter which will help him handle the onslaught once Crawford turns the heat up and increases his activity.
Of course, we are a long way from seeing this fight given that Spence still has much to prove in December, and the promoter-political-show that is PBC versus Top Rank is still seemingly going to be a large hurdle to climb. The hope is that Spence goes out there and demonstrates that he is full strength so his team will feel comfortable making the much anticipated PPV match a reality.
The other nugget of course is the global pandemic. This fight will NEED fans in attendance, so all parties involved will reluctantly wait for the opportunity to present itself.
Given that the promoters have gotten in the way thus far, and boxing has a history of this issue postponing super-fights, it’s very likely that Crawford will have to sit on the sidelines to see Spence-Pacquiao first before getting the shot he desperately craves.
Unfortunately, PBC and the mentioned fighters will want fans in attendance for that bout as well. This could create even more issues with potentially scheduling the fight we all crave. It’s possible that given his age, Manny will look towards other opportunities regardless and given the roadblock he represents, that will be generally appreciated by fans.
It seems that we are faced with a large two-pronged question at the moment: Will Spence and Crawford get to fight, or will promoter politics have us see bouts such as Spence-Thurman and Crawford against another outmatched Welterweight? The hope is that the former gets answered because these men need to finally settle who the best Welterweight in the world is. All eyes are now focused on December 5th to see where we stand.
