Will we finally see Crawford vs Spence in 2022?

Any boxing fan will tell you - one of the most frustrating things about this sport is that there’s too much ‘out of the ring’ politics involving different organizations and promoters. This can (and often does) lead to the best fighters not facing each other when in their prime.

That brings us to 2022 and the welterweight division: two champions - both undefeated - holding three of the four belts. Of course, we are talking about Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. According to the sportsbooks available at NJxGambling.com, this is the fight to make, but will it happen?

Tale of the Tape

With a combined 65 wins and 0 losses, these two champions appear to be in a league of their own in the welterweight division. Each fighter has an impressive resume, making a potential match-up all the more mouth-watering.

Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford

Crawford has had 38 fights, winning 29 by KO. He won his first title at lightweight back in 2013 when he defeated Alejandro Sanabria. After a couple of successful title defenses, Bud moved up to Light Welterweight in 2015.

First, he won the WBO title, and this was followed by the WBC strap. Then in 2017, Bud beat Julius Indongo to win the WBA and IBF belts, which meant that he held all four belts simultaneously - something only six men have achieved.

Crawford’s following fight was against Australia’s Jeff Horn (June 2018), in which he won the WBO Welterweight title. He’s defended this belt five times now, with his most recent victory coming against Shawn Porter in November 2021.

Errol Spence Jr

Fondly known as The Truth, Errol Spence Jr has a 27 fight - 27 wins - 21 by KO - record to his name. At the age of 31, he is three years younger than Terence Crawford.

Spence Jr won his first world title - the IBF Welterweight belt in 2017 when he defeated Britain's Kell Brook by knockout in the 11th round of their fight at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. He made three defenses against Lamont Peterson, Carlos Ocampo and Mikey Garcia before facing Shawn Porter in 2019.

The Truth put the IBF belt on the line while Porter was the current WBC champ. Errol Spence Jr won via a split decision that night and left with both belts. He defended these titles against Danny Garcia in December 2020 but hasn’t fought since.

“You already know who I want”

Terence Crawford made the call out. In his ring interview after beating Porter, the interviewer informed Crawford that Errol Spence Jr was sitting ringside watching the action and he got up and walked out as soon as the stoppage happened. Bud was then asked, “What’s your message for Errol Spence tonight?”

“You see what I did compared to what he did,” Crawford started his reply before asking the crowd. “Who’s number one in the welterweight division?”

The interviewer followed up with, “You make the decisions in your career now; who do you want next?”

Crawford jumped back, “You already know who I want. I’ve been calling him [Errol Spence] out all day.”

Errol Spence vs Yordenis Ugas announced

Clearly, Crawford has put his name down for a fight between these two champions, but it takes two to tango. However, that dance isn’t going to happen just yet, as this week (7/2/2020), it was announced that Spence will fight Yordenis Ugas at the AT&T Stadium in April.

Ugas, to his credit, is the WBA Welterweight champion, and all three belts will be on the line. But, with a record of 27 wins and 4 losses from 31 fights, he doesn’t appear to be the same caliber as Crawford.

Interestingly, Spence’s management had used social media to belittle Terence somewhat by claiming that he doesn’t sell PPVs. That’s where things stand at the moment. With Spence fighting in April, it’s unlikely that we’ll get to see the fight we all want to watch in 2022.