"I don't want no tune-up fights" - Terence Crawford says he is going straight after Errol Spence Jr.
Terence Crawford has made it very clear that he wants to fight Errol Spence Jr. 'Bud' and Spence have been going back and forth at each other, calling each other out ever since 'The Truth' became the Unified Champion of the world. In a recent interview with ESPN, 'Bud' spoke about why he wanted to fight 'The Truth':
"I'm going straight into it. I don't want no tune-up fights. I don't want nothing. I wanna go straight into it… It's time to happen. The time is now for undisputed."
Terence Crawford last fought in November 2021 against Shawn Porter at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. 'Bud' put on a dominant display against one of the most tenacious boxers in the division. It turned out to be the fight that put 'Showtime' into retirement. 'Bud' retained the WBO Welterweight Title and looks to challenge for the rest of the belts next.
Not gone lie 38-1 still a great record twitter.com/terencecrawfor…
The man who currently holds all the other belts in the division is Errol Spence Jr. After 17 months away from the ring, he took on Yordenis Ugas in a title unification fight on April 16 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Spence put on a masterclass against the man that sent Manny Pacquiao into retirement. He was crowned the Unified Welterweight Champion, and his first order of business was to call out Terence Crawford.
Take a look at the tweet by Michael Benson:
Terence Crawford on Errol Spence: “I'm going straight into it. I don't want no tune-up fights. I don't want nothing. I wanna go straight into it… It's time to happen. The time is now for undisputed.” [@ESPN]
Bob Arum talks about Terence Crawford's mental fortitude
'Bud's' former promoter Bob Arum spoke about Crawford's mental fortitude amidst rumors of a potential fight against Errol Spence Jr. In an interview with FightHype, the 90-year-old promoter spoke about a potential fight between Crawford and Spence:
“I don’t know. Again, I always thought Crawford was the better fighter. But I don’t know where Crawford’s head is at. To fight at that level that Spence showed [when he beat Yordenis Ugas], you have to have a clear head and make the right decisions, and I don’t know if Terence is capable of that anymore. I have no idea [if Spence-Crawford will happen]. Terence is not in contract with us, and so it’s somebody else’s problem."
Arum and 'Bud' parted ways last year after his fight with Shawn Porter. Crawford accused the Top Rank CEO of racism and said he purposefully derailed his career by not giving him the best fights. It will be interesting to see if 'Bud' can now make the fight against Spence as a free agent.
Watch the interview below: