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Crawford vs Spence – A Little History and a TSS Writers’ Poll

Crawford vs Spence – A Little History and a TSS Writers’ Poll
On June 9, 2018, Terence Crawford made his debut as a welterweight with a ninth-round stoppage of Jeff Horn. That made him a three-division champion. The pride of Omaha had won his first world title as a lightweight and had then gone on to unify the 140-pound class.
One week later, in Frisco, Texas, Errol Spence Jr made the second defense of his IBF world welterweight title with a first-round blast-out of Carlos Ocampo. Spence caved in Ocampo with a paralyzing body shot that left his Mexican adversary on the canvas for more than two minutes.
There was another welterweight of note in June of 2018. Keith Thurman also owned a world title back then. In fact, he owned two, the WBC and WBA 147-pound belts. But Thurman wasn’t talked-about much because he hadn’t fought in the previous fifteen months because of injuries that would ultimately keep him on the shelf for nearly two full years. When he was out-pointed by ancient Manny Pacquiao in July of 2019, losing a split decision that should have been unanimous, he became an after-thought. Now it was all about Crawford and Spence as to who was the top dog in the welterweight division. Keith Thurman was out of the conversation.
Since those consecutive Saturdays in June of 2018, Crawford and Spence have embossed their credentials. Terence Crawford has successfully defended his WBO diadem six times, winning all six inside the distance to advance his record to 39-0 (30 KOs). Errol Spence Jr (28-0, 22 KOs) has won four, the last two after escaping with non-life-threatening injuries in a horrific car accident. In the process, Spence captured the two pieces of the welterweight title once held by Keith Thurman, giving Terence Crawford an opportunity to become a four-belt title-holder twice over.
Something more than welterweight supremacy is now at stake in Saturday’s SHOWTIME showdown in Las Vegas. Both fighters at various times have been hailed as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter by various entities and now that canonization will be sorted out (albeit the shadow of Naoya Inoue looms large).
Whenever a fight of this magnitude comes down the pike – assuming the odds aren’t lopsided – it is our custom to reach out to our ensemble of fine writers to get their thoughts. A special thanks to our contributors who are listed alphabetically.
Predictions
MATT ANDRZEJEWSKI — Super fights sometimes turn into high stakes chess matches. We saw that for example eight years ago with Mayweather and Pacquiao. I think we see another chess match between Spence and Crawford. In my opinion Crawford has the speed advantage and the better footwork. He also has a very high ring IQ and tends to take his time dissecting his opponents before exploiting their vulnerabilities. My prediction is Crawford drops the first two rounds with almost no activity and then sweeps the next ten to win by 118-110 on all three judges’ cards.
RICK ASSAD — It’s the most anticipated fight since 2015 when Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr met at the MGM Grand. Both were past their primes and that fight was nothing more than a dance, but that won’t be the case for Crawford and Spence who are both still at the top of their games. My heart says Spence who is slightly bigger, slightly taller and, at age 33, the younger man by two years, but my more logical head says Crawford, an updated version of the grandmaster, Mayweather. I see Crawford triumphing on a close, split decision.
LUIS CORTES — Crawford’s athleticism or Spence’s methodical approach? In a 50/50 fight like this, is there really a wrong preference? Like most, I’ve been going back and forth. While I believe Crawford will have plenty of success using his switch- hitting style to create angles that will punish Spence at times, ultimately I like Spence’s jab and the way he sticks it in his opponents face and chest to offset their offense before they can truly utilize it. Spence will add a body attack to the jab in the middle rounds that will slow Crawford down and allow Spence to seize control in the championship rounds. I’m going with Spence by majority decision.
BERNARD FERNANDEZ — Welterweight “superfights” sometimes turn out to be less than super. Leonard-Hearns I met all expectations, and then some, but De La Hoya-Trinidad and Mayweather-Pacquiao, although much-hyped, delivered less actual bang for all those bucks. Now we have Crawford-Spence, and I’m daring to believe that we can relive at least some of those Sugar Ray-Hitman memories. Each man has something to prove, and will try to do just that. Spence has his moments, to be sure, but ultimately my instinct tells me to call it Crawford by eighth-round stoppage.
JEFFREY FREEMAN — Want the truth? Errol Spence Jr. is the best welterweight in the world not named Terence Crawford. This truth will be made all the more clear when Crawford takes the best of Spence’s early power before taking control of the fight, outclassing (and at time’s embarrassing) Spence to score a well-deserved unanimous decision. If the knockout comes, Crawford grabs it in the championship rounds when Spence is all but totally spent.
THOMAS HAUSER — It’s a fascinating fight. But it might not be an entertaining one. Crawford has gotten more aggressive as a fighter in recent years but Spence has gotten more cautious. I expect a tactically-fought bout with Crawford deserving the decision.
ARNE LANG — In my mind, Errol Spence’s best win was his 12-round shutout over Mikey Garcia in 2019. But Mikey was jumping up two weight classes and Spence’s career hadn’t yet been stalled by the injuries he suffered when he totaled his Ferrari. His two victories since that mishap lacked the wow factor. This is a toughie for me but the ambidextrous Crawford has more dimensions to his game and I visualize the Nebraskan cranking up the heat after a slow start to win a unanimous decision.
MATT McGRAIN — I see Crawford hurting Spence early and Crawford taking control of the fight late. Spence will be good enough to stick in but will drop an uncontroversial decision.
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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.
Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.
It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.
Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.
Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.
Bustillo Wins Rematch
In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.
Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.
Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.
After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.
Other Bouts
In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.
A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).
Photos credit: Al Applerose
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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.
SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.
It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.
Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.
Co-Feature
In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.
Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.
Other Bouts of Note
The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.
The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.
In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.
Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing
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Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.
In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.
In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.
Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”
He meant it as a rhetorical question.
Semi-Windup
Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.
A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.
Also
Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.
In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.
The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.
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