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Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford were reportedly near a deal for a fight last November, and it didn’t happen. Now, with recent word that the two were back at the negotiating table, the fight is reportedly a done deal, this time for June 17 in Las Vegas.
Anson Wainwright first reported the news at RingTV.com, and our own sources have told us the fight is a done deal, but haven’t heard a specific date. And to be totally balanced here and not get anyone’s hopes too far up just yet, Dan Rafael’s sources are telling him that the fight isn’t a done deal, though the sides continue to negotiate, and that if it does get done, it won’t be June 17.
Spence (28-0, 22 KO) and Crawford (39-0, 30 KO) would meet for the undisputed welterweight championship, as Spence holds the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles, and Crawford has the WBO belt.
It’s also been the fight to make in the 147 lb division for years now, but never got done. First, the blame was easy to place on boxing politics, with Spence part of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions stable and Crawford with Bob Arum’s Top Rank, but when Crawford left Top Rank in late 2021, it seemed the time was right.
Instead, Crawford sat out until a Dec. 2022 return against David Avanesyan, an easy win in Omaha on a BLK Prime pay-per-view, while Spence also fought just once last year, dominating and stopping Yordenis Ugas in April, adding the WBA title to his collection.
But the fight is still by miles the biggest for either fighter.
Crawford had recently met with Golden Boy, whose plan seemed to hinge on a mandatory defense against Alexis Rocha followed by a fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. And Spence was in the position of having to figure out a WBC mandatory order with Keith Thurman, with later reports suggesting they could fight at 154 lbs in a non-title bout, but Spence has said for years he would not fight Thurman, because Thurman wouldn’t fight him when Spence was an up-and-comer.
Neither option came anywhere close to simply getting this fight over the line after all these years, and it appears they may have done that.
If some sources are correct and others not, the fight would be expected to be officially announced either during the Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia pay-per-view on April 22, or during that fight week, but there’s a chance it could come earlier. If other sources are correct, maybe some other time, or maybe never.
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