Terence Crawford Sipa USA

Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr. begin hyping July fight

By Jason Clinkscales | Last updated 5/26/23

Undefeated welterweight champions Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. made their first televised comments about their fight for the undisputed welterweight championship in July on ESPN's "First Take." Stephen A. Smith, who provides commentary on the network's boxing telecasts, excitedly moderated the discussion.

In the seven-minute clip, both men tried to explain why negotiations took so long. It was less about "he said, he said" as they tried to put barriers aside and appreciate the moment they're going to embark on. Spence, in particular, explained a tad bit more of his strategy in the talks. As transcribed by talkSport editor Michael Benson:

Errol Spence on making the Terence Crawford fight: “I'm a man of my word… Even staying out the ring a whole year. This is the fight I wanted and I stuck to my guns. I was like, 'I'm not fighting until I fight Terence Crawford.'” [@FirstTake]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 26, 2023

Spence's last fight was a TKO victory over Yordenis Ugas in April 2022. Spence punished the right eye of Ugas and led decisively on the scorecards before the referee called the fight.

It was assumed that the super fight was a matter of time as Crawford hadn't been in the ring since defending his belts against "Showtime" Shawn Porter in November 2021. However, talks broke down a couple of times, and both fighters spent the duration of 2022 defending themselves against criticism of not coming to an agreement.

The most intriguing comment from Crawford came toward the end of the interview when Smith asked if this was a career-defining fight in terms of gaining the level of respect that he feels isn't given to him.

"It's always like that," Crawford replied. "Every fight is like that for me, every fight is meaningful, every fight is 'I need to win this fight,' and I'm certain Errol feels the same way."

The two men have circled each other for years, initially coming across one other in person back in 2018. While much has changed for both fighters over the last five years, the anticipation for a meeting between the welterweight kings has only grown. Their combined appearance on "First Take" is only the start of an insane amount of hype over these next two months.

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