By Lino García
It was mostly billed simply as UNDISPUTED and in some places in slightly longer form UNDEFEATED. UNDISPUTED. UNPRECEDENTED.
Given the stellar accomplishments and unblemished records of both Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford and Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. going into this important bout, the promotion could be considered understated. At the end, the final result of course, left a lot to be desired.
Strictly looking at the welterweight division, there have been other high stakes encounters in the past, notably Ray Leonard vs Thomas Hearns billed appropriately “The Showdown” as both men were at the top of the weight division each holding one of the two belts that mattered at that time in 1981, the WBC and WBA belts.
Further splitting ‘World Champion’ into the four currently recognized belts for legitimate world ranking, doesn’t make it any more significant to be the undisputed champion now than it did then when there were less slices to the pie. Part of the hype that did prevail however, was that this would be the first time in the ‘four belt era’ that an undisputed male welterweight champion would be determined, and in the case of Crawford, in two weight divisions including junior-welter, were he to win.
Another more recent mega welterweight match-up was Floyd Mayweather – Manny Pacquiao. That one was for three of the titles, including additionally the WBO, but excluding the IBF title held by Kell Brook, but there was not much doubt that the winner of that fight would be recognized as the linear, and true welterweight champion of the world.
Still, Crawford-Spence was highly anticipated as one of the most exciting match ups in any weight division for very good reasons. Both men were undefeated, both still in the prime of their careers, both with very high knock out percentages at over 76% each, both with great boxing skills, fast hands and the ability to finish off opponents in spectacular fashion.
Crawford as an extremely effective counter puncher, at times in past fights, provided less entertainment for some fans looking for him to press opponents and provide non-stop action. Spence on the other hand, has been known for relentlessly pressing opponents, orchestrating off his stiff jab and showing his power as he wears them down relentlessly. Styles make fights, and these opposing styles promised fireworks from these two undefeated champions.
While they are not household names to the general public like Leonard, Hearns, Pacquiao or Mayweather were, boxing fans, and especially boxing purists, were very excited to finally witness this match up that was years in the making, and often in real jeopardy of being yet another one of those great fights that never materialized.
So as the fighters made their way into the ring there was every reason to think that this would be every bit worth the trip to Las Vegas, and the price of admission to the T-Mobile arena, while the majority of the public forked over $84.99 to watch at home.
The first round went as many had expected with Spence throwing his jab to measure Crawford, to keep him at bay. It was a feeling out round that judges awarded Spence because he was slightly more active in initiating and threw more punches. Even then, Crawford made his own statement with stiff jabs that were arguably as effective or more so than Spence’s.
Then came that unexpected knockdown in the second round, the first time that Spence felt the canvas as a professional and that not only caught him by surprise but everyone watching in attendance, just as the round was about to end. It was a straight right from a south-paw stance coming off a left. Some described it as a jab but the turn of the hip as a combo punch coming off a left, gave it more power.
As round three began, it appeared that Spence needed to make his own statement as Crawford just did, not for the crowd but to manage his own confidence as well as his opponent’s, and to balance the tables during this opening first quarter of the 12 round bout. That statement never came. Instead Crawford kept beating Spence to the punch, and kept him off balance throughout the fight, as presaged by that second round knockdown which may have been as much a result of Crawford’s footwork as it was the punch itself.
Crawford dictated not only the pace and the tempo of the fight, but especially the angles at which each man would fire off from, keeping his opponent at the perfect range for power punches and counters that were fast , powerful and effective. Spence seemed to stay straight in Crawford’s line of fire, rarely moving to his right or his left. It was unforeseeable given the abilities, experience level of both fighters, and how evenly matched they seemed to be. An unthinkable text book boxing lesson for Spence at age 33, perhaps more expected when a promising up and comer meets a wily veteran.
There would be two more knock downs both in the 7th round, the first a counter right upper cut, and the second a right hook with :02 left in the round. Even before the referee stopped the bout in the seemingly more active 9th round, Spence was thoroughly defeated. You could see it in his eyes, and definitely in his battered face even much earlier in the fight.
Given the lopsided nature of the fight, a rematch may not seem very exciting, although with a built-in automatic rematch clause, contractually the loser can elect for a rematch, at the winners chosen weight class.
Spence has stated he’d prefer that to be at 154, a weight he has leaned toward in the past, but at the end it would be Crawford’s decision what division they would fight at.
Asked whether people would be interested in a rematch given the one sided fight, Crawford stated, “Of course they would buy it…”. The hype begins, and unlike this first match that didn’t need it, a rematch while likely, would need to work much harder promotionally to come close to whatever this first one generated in PPV sales.
Will the result be any different, or have we already seen all ‘The Truth’ there is to see between Crawford and Spence?