Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. agree. to fight for the undisputed welterweight championship on July 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, according to ESPN sources.
PBC’s Al Haymon, who is advising Spence, and CAA’s Ish Hinson, who is advising Crawford, have come to an agreement and will now deliver the most anticipated boxing match since the mega fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
Both Crawford and Spence will receive eight figures guaranteed for the Showtime PPV fight, sources said, and have a bidirectional rematch clause that the loser can trigger within 30 days of the fight. It’s a two-fight deal for Crawford with the PBC, sources said. After a possible rematch between Crawford and Spence, which should take place before the end of 2023, both boxers are expected to move up to 154 pounds.
If they split the two fights, a trilogy fight is likely. And whoever prevails is expected to push for a shot at the undisputed junior middleweight championship, which is currently held by Jermell Charlo. Spence and Charlo both train in Dallas with Derrick James.
The deal ended years of Crawford and Spence spinning each other as two of the best welterweights in the world without ever stepping foot in the ring.
But now, they are set to meet in one of the biggest events the sport has to offer, a matchup that will decide supremacy at 147 pounds, and lend the winner the claim of being the best boxer in the world regardless. weight. Crawford is now the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer on ESPN, with Spence three spots behind him at No. 4.
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) is set to move up to 154 pounds for a summer bout against Keith Thurman, but Spence and Crawford are determined to fight each other next. The fighters met in March and reached an agreement on major terms, sources said.
Included in the agreement are individual advisers to the fighters. Haymon and Hinson, who have a long-standing relationship, worked together on the second and third heavyweight title fights between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
And now, another super fight is on the horizon with Crawford and Spence in a fight that fans have been waiting for for years.
Since Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) won the WBO welterweight title in his first fight at 147 pounds in June 2018, there have been calls for a summit meeting against Spence. Over the years, an obstacle has emerged: rival promoters.
Spence, who holds the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, is with PBC while Crawford was formerly with Top Rank, entities that rarely do business with each other. Top Rank has promoted Crawford’s title defense against PBC fighter Shawn Porter in November 2021, but that is a WBO-mandated fight.
Crawford, 35, became a promotional free agent after a 10th-round TKO victory over Porter, paving the way for a potential fight with Spence. The sides have been in talks for the past year and came close to completing a deal in September, but talks collapsed at the 11th hour.
Crawford went on to score a highlight-reel sixth-round KO of David Avanesyan in December in his native Omaha, Nebraska. Spence, 33, last fought in April 2022, a 10th-round TKO victory over Yordenis Ugas in Arlington, Texas, to capture a third welterweight title.
The fight will be Spence’s first since he underwent surgery in August 2021 to repair a detached retina. He was scheduled to fight the legendary Manny Pacquiao in the same month but withdrew from the matchup due to an eye injury. But Spence is back better than ever, just as he did when he recovered from a serious car accident in October 2019 that threatened to put his career in jeopardy.
Fourteen months after that accident, Spence defeated Danny Garcia by decision. And while many boxers are forced to retire due to a detached retina, Spence came back from surgery – like Sugar Ray Leonard in the 1980s – to stop Ugas.
Now, Spence and Crawford are ready for their most difficult challenge yet, the event that will define their legacies once and for all. And it happened because the fighters pushed behind the scenes to finish the battle in the end.