Is Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr. on?
The welterweight titleholders and pound-for-pound stars will fight for the undisputed championship on pay-per-view June 17 in Las Vegas, unnamed sources told RingTV.com. That report seems to confirm rumors that the fighters are near a final agreement on one of the biggest possible fights.
The sources told RingTV.com that a formal announcement is expected to be made at the April 22 fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia in Las Vegas. The handlers of the fighters have neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Crawford and Spence reportedly had agreed to meet last November. However, talks broke down before the contracts were signed and the fighters moved on.
Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) ended up defending against tough, but overmatched David Avanesyan in December. He stopped the challenger in the sixth round.
The WBO later ordered Crawford, it’s champion, to defend against No. 1 contender Alexis Rocha. It’s not clear whether the handlers of Crawford and Rocha opened talks.
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), who hasn’t fought since he knocked out Yordenis Ugas in a title-unification bout last April, had been negotiating to defend his titles against former beltholder Keith Thurman in April but that no deal was reached.
Then, ESPN reported that Crawford and Spence communicated directly by telephone early last month — without the involvement of promoters, managers and networks — and agreed on an undisclosed purse split.
Crawford then sent what was called a “memorandum of understanding” to Premier Boxing Champions, which manages Spence.
And the Dallas Morning News reported on March 29 that the talks had “restarted.”
Now, if RingTV.com’s sources are right, we’re only a few weeks from a formal announcement.
The matchup has been compared to other great welterweight clashes because of the status of the fighters. Crawford tops Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list, Spence is No. 4.
It has been difficult to make the fight in part because the principals have been affiliated with competing handlers, Crawford with Top Rank and Spence with PBC.
Crawford split from Top Rank late last year, which opened a wider path to an agreement.
