Errol Spence v Bud Crawford the match boxing fans want, & why no one knows it

A press conference for a boxing match is often more entertaining than the fight itself.

The presser for the Errol Spence vs. Terence “Bud” Crawford fight on Thursday will not be more entertaining than this fight, but Bud said something that was unfunny yet noteworthy.

“Listen, my family, Errol’s family, you gotta calm down, brother,” Crawford said during a press conference that was attended by members of both families, who shouted and talked a lot of garbage throughout.

All of the woofing made for a safe train wreck to watch, but Bud issued a plea. He doesn’t want a real wreck.

“Things can get sticky real quick, and everybody will say, ‘This is what we do every time we come together,’” he said as he addressed a specific member in the audience. “Listen, just like you talkin’, it can turn deadly real quick on both sides.

“Why not support your fighter? Let’s come together and make this event a success instead of everybody saying every time we come together it’s shooting and violence. That’s what I want. I wish Errol and his people the best.”

For those inside the boxing community, Spence v. Crawford on Saturday night in Las Vegas for the welterweight title is the biggest fight this sport has had in years. Seldom (never?) do fighters of this stature meet when both are undefeated.

This will be the fight that Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2015 was supposed to be but badly whiffed.

Spence v. Crawford is the old-school fight boxing fans have wanted for years, and will determine Spence’s stature in the sport. This is the one both he, and fans, have impatiently waited for.

Spence v. Crawford is the closest fight this sport has seen since the mid ‘80s, when men like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns ran boxing.

The hope is Spence v. Crawford will be something akin to Hagler v. Hearns, a fight so ferocious it still lives on in social media reels even though that fight was in 1985.

“I always tell everyone I don’t go in lookin’ for the knockout, I look for the win,” Crawford said at the press conference on Thursday in Las Vegas. “But if he gets outta line, he’s gonna be the next one down.”

Spence: “I been gettin’ outta line my whole life, so you’re gonna have to do what you’re gonna have to do.”

Crawford: “I’m ‘bout to take my belt off then.”

Spence: “You gonna need more than your belt. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I ain’t one of your kids.”

You cannot script this, and not just because the Writer’s Guild is on strike. And reading this doesn’t do justice to this wonderfully stupid sophomoric banter so typical in boxing where bulletin board material is to be public, not private.

For Crawford, this all qualifies as WWE-level woofing. He is notoriously quiet, and reserved. He’s a brilliant, undefeated fighter who has little to say.

He’s 35, and his spot in the sport is secure. He’s 39-0, and if the man talked at all, or lived anywhere but Nebraska, people outside of this sport might know the name Bud.

For Spence, 33, he needs this far more than Bud. Both guys know it.

He’s 28-0, and hammered everything in his sight, but the one signature opponent. His career has also been delayed because of he wrecked his Ferrari one night in 2019. He’s lucky he didn’t die.

He also suffered an eye injury in Aug. of 2021, which prevented him from fighting Pacquiao.

Two years later, Spence has the fight he wants.

So does boxing.