A Bud Crawford/Errol Spence Jr. rematch is a perfectly horrible idea. Plan on it.
Terence Crawford and Errol Spence stood in the middle of the ring, Bud and told his latest victim, “I appreciate you. You’re a helluva fighter.”
“We made history,” Spence said.
“We” is a bit much. One person made history.
Boxing’s biggest fight in years turned out to be YouTube instructional video on how to destroy a great fighter.
Bud Crawford is now the first male fighter to be an undisputed, four-belt champion in two divisions.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Crawford reduced undefeated Spence to just another loss. The pride of DeSoto will get another shot at Bud, but this was not how a fight he so desperately wanted was supposed to go.
This wasn’t a close fight. It was just a clinic.
The unifying welterweight title fight was stopped at the 2:23 mark of the ninth round. Spence disagreed with the referee, but it was the right decision.
Spence had already been knocked down three times earlier in the fight; the first in the second round, and the next two in the seventh round.
By the ninth round, Spence was leaning in taking big swing in hopes of somehow landing a big shot that would change his night. Bud calmly waited, and consistently landed hard shots.
“It was a good stoppage,” Crawford told ringside reporter Jim Gray in ring after the fight on the Showtime PPV. “The ref’ did what he was supposed to and protect the fighter.”
Spence had never once needed protection in his previously undefeated career.
The face of the two men told the entire fight. Spence’s face was battered and swollen. Bud looked like he just finished a workout.
“He was the better man tonight,” Spence said after the fight. “He used his jab and my timing was a little bit off. He was better tonight. I make no excuses.”
Spence won the first round, and after that he didn’t come close.
He is an aggressive fighter, and he will take his chances, which Bud routinely made him pay with devastating counter punches.
Coming into the fight, Spence was 28-0 with 22 knock outs. Bud made him look like a sparring partner. Even when Spence landed a quality punch to the head in the seventh, Bud countered with a knock-down shot.
Nothing that happened in this fight would indicate that Spence can beat Crawford in a rematch. Bud shares a similar trait with retired champion Floyd Mayweather; they make every opponent look the same.
According to the contract that Bud and Spence agreed to, there is an automatic rematch clause that can be exercised by the loser of the bout.
“Hell yeah; let’s do it again,” Spence told Gray.
Spence is already eyeing the rematch for December, perhaps at a slightly higher weight.
Bud sounded eager to go again. Why not?
With the possible of exception of a Great White Shark, or a Grizzly Bear, Bud has no one else to fight.
He’s 40-0 with 31 KOs. Anyone in his weight class isn’t in his class, and that now includes Errol Spence.
This story was originally published July 29, 2023 at 11:54 PM.
