Errol Spence Looks to Become Undisputed Welterweight Champion Tomorrow in Vegas

Desoto native and undefeated unified welterweight world champion Errol "The Truth" Spence, 28-0 (22), looks to join his stablemate Jermell Charlo as an undisputed champion in his weight class. The feat has been accomplished nine times in the four-belt era. It was last accomplished by Japanese KO artist Naoya Inoue, in the Bantamweight division in late 2022. Charlo, a Houston native, captured all four belts in the 154-pound division in May, 2022 by stopping Brian Castano in the 10th round of their rematch.

Spence, who currently holds three of the four welterweight belts (WBA, WBC, IBF), will step into the ring with WBO title holder Terence "Bud" Crawford, 38-0 (30), of Omaha, Nebraska, in what is being-touted as the biggest fight of the year. Crawford is also one of the nine men who held all the straps in the four-belt era. He accomplished the task when he stopped Julius Indongo in the third round of their 2017 showdown. Crawford will look to be the first-ever man to hold the undisputed crown in multiple weight classes. Evander Holyfield accomplished the feat in the three-belt era.

If Spence, who is a slight betting underdog, +120 according to DraftKings, can pull the minor upset, that will mean all eight world title belts from 147 to 154, will not only be held in the great state of Texas, they will be held in the same gym. Both fighters train with Derick James at his World Class Boxing Gym in Dallas. Additionaly, Charlo will have a unique opportunity to hold all four belts in two separate weight classes when he steps into the ring with legendary Mexican champion Canelo Alvarez who holds all the belts at 168 on September 30th in Las Vegas. If both Texans are successful, all of the world titles in the 147, 154 & 168-pound divisions will all be held by Texans.

Spence- Crawford! Finally!! It's Officially, Official

We have not reported on rumors and played it low-key until everything was officially, official. That time is now. DeSoto native and WBA-WBC-IBF Welterweight champ will battle WBO title holder Terence Crawford on July 29th in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. The fight has long been anticipated. Additionally its was very close to being made last summer, allegedly. Crawford told the mostly Dallas-based media during the lead-up to Virgil Ortiz-Michael McKinson to, "wait till November." November came and went, and nothing happened, and so did about six more months. However, a deal is now in place, and the fight looks like it will finally happen. It has an official date and venue. “The wait is over...It’s game time. Errol Spence-Terence Crawford, July 29th, Las Vegas, Nevada. Everybody come out, show support and watch me fry this fish.” Crawford said on Social Media, and the North Texan clapped back writing, “Finally giving the fans what they want!.. This one a throwback fight on paper, but it could be a one-sided ass-whooping."

Both fighters are undefeated. Terence Crawford, 35, is 39-0 (3) and has held the WBO welterweight title since knocking out Jeff Horn in June of 2018. Spence captured the IBF Welterweight title by stopping Kell Brook all the way back in May of 2017. He added the WBC belt in 2019 by outpointing Shawn Porter. He added the WBA strap by stopping Yordenis Ugas last year at AT&T Stadium. Spence has not fought since stopping Ugas. Crawford last fought in December and stopped Avanesyan in six rounds.

Spence-Crawford Direct Negotiations, Allegedly Agree on Split.

A potential mega fight between undefeated unified welterweight champ Errol "The Truth" Spence of DeSoto and WBO champ Terence Crawford is not dead. reportedly the two are self-negotiating a deal to unify all four belts at 147 pounds. The good news is the mega fight that has been the talk of the boxing world for years isn’t dead yet. ESPN has reported that the superstar welterweights have communicated via phone calls, absent promoters, managers, and networks and have agreed on an undisclosed purse split.

This is obviously good news for fight fans, but it creates more questions than it answers. Who will be the promoter of the fight? Crawford and Spence had allegedly agreed on a split of the gross PPV revenue for November of 2022. Crawford alleges the PBC refused to open the books and show what money they were spending on promoting the fight, which would decrease the bottom line of each fighter. There is also no venue, date, or television/streaming attached to the fight. All of that would certainly have to be worked out prior to a fight. Those are major, not minor details.

In the interim, the WBO has ordered Crawford to fight Alexis Rocha. Spence has also been in deep negotiations with former unified welterweight champ Keith Thurman who has again been inactive for over a year. That fight, which was rumored to be at 154, as opposed to 147, never materialized. So a potential Spence-Crawford fight still has all those obstacles to overcome, plus each fighter will like to take a fight in the interim where anything could happen and Spence will have to continue to be able to make the 147-pound limit which he has seemed to outgrow.

Spence has not fought in nearly a year. His last outing was in April of 2022, he stopped Yordenis Ugas in 10 rounds at AT&T Stadium in Arlington to capture his WBA belt in addition to successfully defending the WBC and IBF belts and moving his record to 28-0 (22). Crawford fought in December and stopped fringe contenders and stopped him in six rounds to move his record to 39-0 (30). The other remaining factor is that each fighter would have to fight twice in a single calendar year, something neither fighter has done in quite some time. Crawford has fought just once a year each year since 2020, and Spence is even less active, having fought just twice since September of 2019. Spence fought once in 2020 and once in 2022.

With each fighter well into their 30s, it seems unlikely that either man, let alone both men, will fight twice in one calendar year. So, yes, there is reason to be optimistic, but it should be cautious optimism.

Spectrum Cable Sharing Blind Spence-Crawford Optimism

Spectrum is the trade name of Charter Communications, which is used to market consumer and commercial cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the company. Spectrum has officially listed Spence VS Crawford as a PPV for purchase for $74.99 in June. However, there s no specific date beyond June. Unfortunately for fight fans who have been salivating for Spene-Crawford for years, this is pure optimism from the digital cable provider. Sources close to Spence have said "there is nothing signed or in the works to be signed" and that "there are ongoing negotiations with Crawford and others." The other is likely Keith Thurman. The two fighters were rumored to be closing in on a deal to meet up at 154 in a non-title fight. That fight was rumored for April. However, it is already late February, and no deal is in place. So if that fight is to happen at all, it will certainly not take place in April. Spence has been out of the ring since last April when he unified his third strap at 147 pounds by stopping Yordenis Ugas in the 10th round of their fight at AT&T Stadium.

Spence and Crawford were allegedly close to a fight in 2022 when talks broke down after Crawford alleged PBC wouldn't open the books for the Crawford team to see what expenditures were being deducted from the bottom line. That's a bigger deal than it may appear to be. There were no guaranteed purses for the fighters. Each fighter was to get a portion of the total PPV revenue. If PBC is spending money without Crawford knowing, that directly impacts the gross revenue, thus increasing Crawford's bottom line. Crawford opted to fight with David Avanesyanz, a fight that was a PPV bust. Highly contradicting numbers have been reported. Reports ranged anywhere, from 5,000 to over 100,000 buys, depending on who you asked. Either way, none of those would be good for team Crawford if they wanted to renegotiate a better deal with Spence.

Spence may be Looking at Multiple Mandatory Defenses with Crawford Fight Off

With the undisputed welterweight showdown between WBO champ Terence Crawford and WBA/IBF/WBC Champ, Errol Spence Jr of DeSoto seems to have been scrapped, at least for the foreseeable future. Spence and Crawford agreed to a 65/35 split in favor of the North Texan. However, there was no guaranteed purse. The entire split was based on the net revenue of the PPV's back end. A unique contract for a fight of that magnitude. Crawford asked PBC to open the books. After some dispute and controversy, the mega-unification fight fell out. Crawford has agreed to fight David Avanesyan in December. That leaves Spence, who has been inactive since April, without a fight. He is now under pressure to face two of his mandatory challengers.

The first up appears to be a 28-year-old Lithuanian Eimantas Stanionis, who holds the WBA ‘regular’ title. Stanionis is in line for Spence's super belt in the WBA's consolidation effort. Stanionis is 14-0 (9) and won the 'regular' by outpointing Radzhab Butaev at AT&T Stadium on the undercard of Spence-Ugas.

Spence could take that fight or vacate the belt and potentially fight his IBF mandatory challenger Jarron "Boots" Ennis of Philadelphia. Ennis won a final eliminator in May to put him in a position to fight Spence and is now petitioning the sanctioning body to make the fight ASAP. The Ennis defense is much more intriguing and competitive and would likely be a bigger money fight for Spence.

Spence will have a couple of options with the Crawford fight shelved for now. He could fight Stanionis and then Ennis, and should he win both, then look to make Crawford fight after that. However, that fight would likely be more than a year out. Anything could happen in such a long-time span, including one of, if not both fighters, moving up to the junior middleweight division. The next option Spence could explore is to vacate one of the two belts and then fight either Stanionis or Ennis. Should he win then he could look to make the Crawford again, should each man win. However, that would only be for three of the four welterweight straps. So, the winner of that fight would not be undisputed. The likelihood of the DeSoto native unifying all four belts has taken a major hit. Look for Spence to potentially move from 147 to the 154-pound weight class in 2023.

Spence-Crawford fight in Jeopardy Again

DeSoto native and Unified welterweight champion Errol "The Truth" Spence's unification and mega-fight with WBO Welterweight Champ Terence Bud Crawford is again in jeopardy. Small details which were not ironed out are currently holding the fight up. The major tipping point for Crawford seems to be transparency. The WBO champ wants access to event expenses since the contract contains no guaranteed purse. Both fighters will earn a percentage of the total revenue. Crawford wants the ability to approve expenses. The fight was agreed upon but never finalized for November 19th in Las Vegas. If the fight does not come off on the 19th it is unlikely the fight will happen at all in 2022. If that is the case the two world champions would have combined for just one title fight in 2022. Spence fought back in April and stopped WBA champ Yordenis Ugas in 10 rounds to collect the Cubans WBA belt that Spence added to his WBC and IBF straps. Crawford has not fought since November of 2021 when he stopped "Showtime" Shawn Porter in the 11th round of their classic scrap. Crawford and Spence are both undefeated. Crawford sports a 38-0 (29) and has won every fight at 147 via stoppage, the north Texan's perfect record stands at 28-0 (22).

Spence and Crawford in Advanced Talks for Undisputed Showdown

The welterweight division is the most star-studded division and the two biggest stars in the division who happened to hold all four major world titles are in advanced talks and it does appear the fight may finally happen.  AFight between WBA/WBC/IBF Welterweight Champ Errol Spence Jr of DeSoto and WBO champ Terence Crawford has been on the top of fight fans' wish list since Crawford moved up to welterweight in 2018 and captured the WBO belt by stopping Jeff Horn.

For years the excuse of the two being on upside sides of the street was used, Spence is with PBC, and Crawford was with Top Rank, and fighting the fighters in their own stable, is typically easier to make and more profitable for the promoters. Crawford is now a promotional free agent. The fight appears to be on the verge of finally getting done. The winner will be the first undisputed welterweight champion in the four-belt era.

Crawford spoke during a DAZN interview saying "Hopefully (the Spence fight gets made), that’s the plan, for us to get the job done on the business side and to be able to share the ring and put on a great performance for each and every one of you guys who want to see us share the ring together...I think the time right now is the best time because it’s for all the marbles. You got Errol Spence got three of the titles, I got one, it would be for undisputed. There wouldn’t be no other champion in the division and I feel like this is the biggest moment for us to fight."