Errol Spence and Terence Crawford set for long awaited battle
The long wait is over, as undefeated unified WBC, WBA, and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence will take on undefeated WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight will be broadcast on Showtime PPV. Spence and Crawford have been on a collision course since Crawford moved up to 147 lbs in June 2018.
Spence, who has been the IBF welterweight champion since May 2017, said he would face Crawford when he captured the WBC and WBA titles, which he did by defeating Shawn Porter in September 2019 and Yordenis Ugás in April 2022..
Now, boxing fans have the most compelling fight in quite some time. The fight is a tossup; either boxer could emerge victorious. What would be unexpected, however, is an early knockout. The fight is likely to be as entertaining as the first Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury clash in December 2018 or the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin bout last September. Both had boxing fans and media alike debating who won, with Wilder and Fury ending in a draw and Alvarez defeating Golovkin by a 12-round decision.
On Tuesday, Japanese pugilist Naoya Inoue handed Stephen Fulton the first loss of his career, capturing the WBC and WBO junior featherweight world titles. Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) floored Funton (21-1, 8 KOs) in the eighth round, and finished the fight in front of his home crowd in Japan. What’s next for the man nicknamed ‘The Monster?’ We will have to wait and see, but if there were any doubts about his abilities, he answered them resoundingly.
There was controversy this past Saturday in Shawnee, Oklahoma, as former unified lightweight world champion George Kambosos Jr. avoided a three-fight losing streak by edging Maxi Hughes in a majority decision. Many boxing pundits and fans believed Hughes (26-6-2, 5 KOs) won and were dumbfounded by a 117-111 scorecard in favor of Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs). The other cards read 115-113 and 114-114.
“We won the fight by many rounds,” said Kambosos Jr.. “That’s no discredit to Maxi Hughes. He had a couple good rounds. But a couple good rounds don’t win you the fight. We won a majority of the rounds.
“That’s the reason we chose him,” the Australia native continued. “He was a hard test. A lot of guys coming off losses wouldn’t want to take a test like him. This was a hard challenge.”
Hughes expressed his deep disappointment in the outcome. “I’m absolutely devastated,” he acknowledged. “Nobody thought I was supposed to be in George’s league. Tonight, I came and I showed that I should have had my hand raised.”
Hughes then pointed out why he thought he was victorious.
“I used my footwork,” he said. “I made him miss and pay. I landed the cleaner shots. I don’t want to sound like a sore loser, and I will watch it and assess it, but everyone here now knows who Maxi Hughes is.”
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