Crawford Vs Spence Jr - Will it Be the Fight We All Want?

Rumour has it that the super-fight for all 4 Welterweight Belts is going through the last few wranglings and will hopefully be on November 19th. It's said that there will be a rematch clause.

What can we expect? Will it be the barnstormer we all want, or will it be a tactical game of chess where we get a hotly disputed decision?

Crawford's well known as being one of the best all-round fighters in the world. It's no secret his timing is superb, he counter-punches extremely well and has supreme ring savviness. He's also got some decent power - he is pretty much the sort of boxer we'd all design on paper. He's come up through the weights from when he first won the WBO Lightweight title, before grabbing all 4 LWW belts 5 years ago. He since made the move to Welter in 2018, stopping Jeff Horn to become WBO champ. He has suffered from promotor issues and some bouts of inactivity, but these do not seem to have affected him at all.

Spence Jr meanwhile is a career Welter, who is also a southpaw. He won three successive National Amateur Welter Championships in the amateurs. After picking up the IBF title by defeating Kell Brook in England, he's made several defences and of course picked up both the WBC & WBA titles (against Porter and Ugas respectively). Spence has since 2018 been calling out the best in the division, specifically Crawford. Spence is known to be "big" for the weight, although it's Crawford who actually has the longer reach.

Because Crawford came up through the weights, they only have a couple of similar opponents in Kell Brook and Shawn Porter. One could argue that the Brook comparison is not as relevant as Kell was a lot more shopworn and had been out of the game for a while before the Crawford fight, with only a blowout against Mark DeLuca in the previous 2 years. The Porter fights were more interesting. Crawford was able to easily break down Porter and became the first to stop him, whereas Spence was drawn into Porter's roughhouse tactics and probably fought the wrong fight; A likely result of Crawford's superior ring IQ at work here.

Spence of course was out for a while due to his self-inflicted DUI car crash and also due to his retinal tear. Neither seem to have affected his boxing abilities.

They have a combined record of 66 and 0. As the old saying goes, "Someone's 0 has got to go!" The smart money is probably on Crawford to box his way to a close decision, but with Spence being a big and extremely talented Welter who believes in himself, he might not have things all his own way. Spence's relentless body shots and head punches against Ugas were particularly vicious. That said, Crawford will be a not-particularly old 35 at the time of the fight, with Spence 32, so both fighters can be marked as being pretty much in their primes.

It is a fight I genuinely cannot call.

Can expect a huge financial flop.....Both great technicians but it would be like Nunn v Whittaker as regards to interest...

Not sold on Spence.....Thought Brook had the beating of him and Brook looked all at sea against Crawford as did Khan...

Crawford wins...Becomes and Alltime Great like Pernell and no one will care like Pernell..

sadly.

I think you and I were watching different fights Truss - Spence was ahead on all three cards and had busted Brook's orbital bone.

Regardless of that, I agree that whoever wins will have the accolade of probably being the best in the world - and nobody will know their names. If either had been around in the 80s/90s virtually every sport fan would know who they are. Going behind a paywall has killed boxing for all but the diehard fans. Both have more natural talent than Alvarez but can't hold a candle to his marketability.

The question will be whether Spence has the ability to hit and hurt Crawford - if he can, it's a more even fight.

Crawford wins, he’s simply too good imo

Mr Bounce wrote:I think you and I were watching different fights Truss - Spence was ahead on all three cards and had busted Brook's orbital bone.

Regardless of that, I agree that whoever wins will have the accolade of probably being the best in the world - and nobody will know their names. If either had been around in the 80s/90s virtually every sport fan would know who they are. Going behind a paywall has killed boxing for all but the diehard fans. Both have more natural talent than Alvarez but can't hold a candle to his marketability.

The question will be whether Spence has the ability to hit and hurt Crawford - if he can, it's a more even fight.

Think we were......Brook was bossing the fight through six.....The eye damage caused him to lose..

Sure Spence may have won 7 8 9....But Brook for me was the more skilled fighter..

Should be a very interesting fight.   For me I think Crawford starts as a firm favorite and wins on points.  I just think he is too elusive and ring smart. However this is all speculation and we need to see them fight.

Crawford should win, but it will be interesting to see him facing another guy who he's not naturally bigger than and who isn't drained or otherwise compromised. As talented as we all know he is and as consistent as he's been, there aren't all that many decent names on his record which match that description.

A genuine, strong Welter in Porter gave him a lot of trouble with not especially refined tactics. Crawford can brawl his way out of bother when he needs to but Porter did push him back and caught him with his chin up in the air a few times.

Crawford carries his power late and tends to adapt which should see him through here, but I'm expecting Spence to give him some problems and probably have a lead at the half-way stage. Spence is a slightly more polished Margarito so I don't see Crawford stopping him - it would be very impressive if he did - but I think he pulls away to win a tight decision.

88Chris05 wrote:

A genuine, strong Welter in Porter gave him a lot of trouble with not especially refined tactics. Crawford can brawl his way out of bother when he needs to but Porter did push him back and caught him with his chin up in the air a few times.

Agree with your post apart from this Chris...Porter being so short at the weight and strong makes him like Dwight Qawi a handful for anyone...

Remember the great Holyfield getting a contentious 15 rounder..

No one will find a guy like Porter easy because they are so out of kilter with what they generally train for...Add Tua to the list.

Just ask Kell and others.

Like I say though only a small issue with an excellent  post.