Errol Spence reveals direct conversation with Terence Crawford about fight negotiations
Errol Spence has confirmed reports that he had a phone conversation with Terence Crawford about their potential fight.
The match-up between WBA, WBC and IBF champion Spence and WBO champion Crawford has been long awaited by boxing fans with the two American 147lbers both considered to be among the best in the sport.
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For a long time, the pair have circled one another in the welterweight division.
Spence initially held the IBF crown when first called out by Crawford, who moved into the welterweight (147lbs) division after previously being a world champion at lightweight (135lbs) and an undisputed world champion at super-lightweight (140lbs).
Upon his arrival at welterweight in 2018, Crawford won the WBO belt and fans demanded a unification.
However, boxing politics played a big part in keeping the pair separate as Spence works with Al Haymon’s PBC on Showtime/FOX, while Crawford was aligned with Bob Arum’s Top Rank on ESPN.
As a result, Spence instead unified by facing other champions aligned with Haymon.
He won the WBC belt from Shawn Porter in 2019 and WBA belt from Yordenis Ugas in 2022.
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Meanwhile Crawford has kept hold of his WBO belt by making several defences against the likes of Amir Khan, Kell Brook and Porter.
There were times during this period though when fans feared the fight may never happen between the pair.
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Spence has had two extended ring absences – one due to a horrific car crash from which he miraculously emerged unscathed and one due to a serious eye injury.
Remarkably, the unified champion is still fighting and now wants to go in search of the final welterweight belt.
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In late 2021, Crawford’s contract with Arum’s Top Rank ended and he publicly announced himself to be a free agent.
However, extended talks for the Spence fight to happen in November 2022 proved fruitless as the fight fell apart at contract stages.
In recent months, rumours have circulated that the parties were quietly making a fresh attempt to revive the fight.
Spence has now told : "I'm trying to fight the best competition out there.
"There's a reason why I'm trying to fight Crawford, I'm a man of my word. I'm not trying to fight anybody else but him...
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"Me and Crawford are definitely in talks. We've been talking, so hopefully it can be me and him."
Asked if negotiations are progressing better than last year, he said: "Yeah definitely. Me and Crawford, we're talking directly.
"We actually were probably on the phone for 30 minutes, 40 minutes.
"We probably spent like 15 minutes talking about the negotiations part and stuff like that.
"We were just talking about getting a feel for each other, basically talking our families and current situations we have going on, stuff like that.
"Then we started talking about boxing, us fighting, negotiations.
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"It went well and our teams are still negotiating, we're having talks.
"It's going very well."
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