By Jack Tiernan: Devin Haney is excited by the news that Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford agreed to terms for an undisputed welterweight championship in two months’ time on November 19 in Las Vegas.
Haney feels that Spence-Crawford is a “50-50” deal that can go either way, depending on what they bring.
Devin says WBO 147-pound champion Crawford’s tendency to get too aggressive could hurt him because it would make him vulnerable against heavy hitter Spence.
We haven’t seen how resilient Crawford, soon to be 35, is because he’s only faced two big punchers in his career in Kell Brook and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
Crawford fell to the ground after being pinned by Kavaliauskas with a big punch. Although the referee disallowed the knockdown and ruled it a slip, it was clear that Crawford was legitimately brought down.
Brook was past his prime and was nothing like the guy he’d been years before. However, before Crawford stopped Brook in the fourth round, he was being tweaked and he seemed pretty worried.
“I love Crawford and I love Spence. I just want to be a fan and just watch,” Devin Haney told Fight Hub TV of the Nov. 19 fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford.
“I like those two guys, and I can’t pick a winner, honestly. I think it’s 50-50. I think on any given night, they could beat each other.
“I would love to see that fight more than once because I feel like it could end in a knockout in the first fight, but in the second fight, it could go in a different direction.
“I feel like those guys are equally matched. It depends on what kind of fight Crawford fights because he, sometimes, he can be aggressive, and be too aggressive and get caught, and that works in Errol’s favor.
“The [Spence] he’s got a good jab, good power, smart fundamentals. So a switch hitter like Crawford, it can be kryptonite for him because a guy with better fundamentals can beat a guy like that,” Haney said in giving his take on the Spence-Crawford matchup.
Spence is able to box when he wants to. If he chooses to box Crawford, it could be an interesting game of chess. It would be fun to see if Spence can get past Crawford like he did Mikey Garcia.