By Chris Williams: Andre Ward says he wants to see how Terence Crawford deals with the pressure and power of IBF, WBA and WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr in their fight on November 19.
Crawford (38-0, 29 KO) has never fought someone like Spence (28-0, 22 KO) during his long 14-year professional career.
The guys Crawford has fought have been below Spence in talent and punching power, especially at 147. WBO champion Crawford has yet to face a killer at welterweight like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Those guys are coming for Crawford, but they likely won’t get a chance to fight the Nebraska native before he goes up to 154 after this year.
“Absolutely. Not necessarily stylistically, but in terms of magnitude, absolutely,” Andre Ward told Fighthype when asked if Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford is similar to the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns mega fight of the decade. from 1980.
“I’m going to say this, and both fighters already know it. Neither fighter has ever fought a fighter like the other,” Ward continued on Spence – Crawford.
“EJ has never fought Terence Crawford, and Terence Crawford has never fought Errol Spence. As experienced as they are, they have no experience fighting one fighter like the other.
“You have all the years of buildup and things that have been said, and things are obviously heating up again because the potential for the fight to happen is fresh and new with Spence coming off the Ugas win.
“As an analyst and a fan, I want to see how Bud deals with constant pressure from Errol. People say that Errol fights one way, but he’s effective, and it’s a reason why he’s breaking down and beating a lot of great guys and why he has the resume that he has.
“I want to see how Terence Crawford deals with the physical strength of Errol Spence.
“I want to see how Crawford deals with Errol Spence’s southpaw style and Errol Spence’s body shots because Errol is going to go down.
“When you get hit in the body, you don’t have to go down, but it’s still effective and it shows up mid-fight, late-fight, and it’s going to be a grueling fight, so it’s all going to count, it’s all going to count. to import.
“I want to see how Crawford deals with the power of Errol Spence. The other side of the coin, I want to see how Errol Spence deals with Terence Crawford’s range.
“Terence Crawford’s arms are extremely long. We shadowboxed and played games, and sometimes he would have something close to my face. I’m like, ‘Bro, how do you get to that?
“His arms are extremely long for a welterweight. I don’t know if he’s 73 or 74, somewhere. He has long arms. How is Errol Spence going to deal with that, the scope?
“How is Errol going to deal with the different styles that Terence can bring to the table? Terence can punch, Terence can float and box on his toes. Terence can fight off a jab. Errol can too, but right now I’m just talking about Terence.
“How is Errol going to deal with the power of Terence Crawford? When he gets hit on the chin for the first time, what will his response be? I can go back and forth all day about what either fighter brings to the table.
“We just don’t know. We can speculate. we don’t know. They have to get in the ring and we can see how it develops. It’s going to be a great welterweight fight of all time. I think, and I don’t know how they’re going to do it, but I think there should be a rematch clause for both fighters.
“I think we should be looking at two fights for these two fighters. I can’t see a scenario where I’m one and ready for one guy, and the other guy has a rematch clause.
“I think they both should have one. So we’re probably on the hook for a two-fight deal, at least,” Ward said of the Spence-Crawford fight.
