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Terence Crawford Jr. appears to be still very interested in fighting Errol Spence Jr.
Earlier this week, the WBO welterweight champion from Omaha, Nebraska, publicly reached out on Twitter to Spence, the WBA, WBC, and IBF champion from Desoto, Texas, about resuming negotiations for the undisputed 147-pound title. Crawford's sentiment echoed what Spence said shortly after their initial negotiations broke down in late October, prompting Crawford to pursue a fight with David Avanesyan, whom he stopped in the sixth round a couple of weekends ago at the CHI Health Center in Omaha.
Spence is expected to fight someone else in the first half of next year, so talks are unlikely to begin soon. Keith Thurman, his Premier Boxing Champions stablemate, is widely regarded as that someone.
Spence's fight date was postponed due to injuries sustained in a recent car accident, which were not as serious as those sustained in a car accident in 2019. Spence recently stated that he expects to return to the ring between April and June.
Spence has recently been far more restrained in his enthusiasm for the Crawford fight.
“Next year, anything can happen,” Spence told a group of reporters in Las Vegas last week. “I don't know man, I'm not going to worry about it too much. If it happens, it happens. If it don't, it don't … We'll see man, we'll see. The great thing is that I got helluh options. I never say I aint fight nobody. Sh!t. I'll fight whoever.”
Despite the fighters' seeming positive remarks, there is no denying a level of hostility in their relations. Crawford has made it abundantly clear that he believes Spence’s advisor, Al Haymon, the founder of PBC, is to blame for the breakdown in negotiations. In a 20-minute Instagram Live tell-all a couple of months ago, Crawford said Haymon’s refusal to offer financial “transparency” was what killed the deal.
Crawford then decided to link up with BLK Prime, a subscription streaming service that few in boxing had heard of before but had apparently wooed Crawford with a $10 million purse to fight Avanesyan. Crawford recently sung the company’s praises, saying he is looking “forward to what’s next in the future.”
If Spence returns in the spring or early summer, a fight with Crawford is unlikely to happen until late 2023, at the earliest.