Terence Crawford and Errol Spence are continuing to negotiate a date and weight for their rematch.
Spence activated his clause for a rematch after his one-sided defeat in July, when he was stopped in the ninth round of their undisputed welterweight title fight, and has since sought to tempt Crawford to fight him again at 154lbs.
Showtime’s withdrawal from boxing has contributed to their negotiations stalling, but while the 36-year-old Crawford hasn’t ruled out moving up in weight he has reminded Spence that their contract stipulates that they should remain at 147lbs, where he remains the WBA, WBO and WBC champion.
“The latest is we signed – contracted – to do a rematch,” Crawford, whose commitment to again fighting Spence rules him out as an opponent for Saul Alvarez, told ProBox TV. “I don’t got no date right now, but I know that’s the next fight that Terence Crawford will have.
“It’s still up in the air given that Showtime has no longer decided to do boxing, so everything’s up in the air right now with that, but nothing’s been noted to me that the fight will not happen, so that’s the fight.
“The contract say 147lbs, so that’s what it’s at right now. We can decide on 54 or 147. Everything’s up in the air.
“That just tells the championship mentality that he have [to want a rematch despite losing so convincingly]. He lost a gruelling fight, and he feel as if it just wasn’t his night that night, and he wanna prove to the world that in a rematch he can defeat me, so I take my hat off to him. It was always respectful from the jump.”
Crawford was more recently stripped of the IBF title he won from the 33-year-old Spence, and has also seen it awarded to the talented Jarron “Boots” Ennis. He had held their title for little over three months before they acted, following six years in which Spence was not similarly punished, and he said: “Man, fuck the IBF. That’s what I say. You know what I mean?
"Fuck the IBF and their organisation. I don’t give a fuck about the IBF. They stripped me damn near two and a half months [later], not knowing what’s going to happen next. But it’s cool, though, you know? I’m not mad at them. I got what I needed, and that was undisputed, and the rest is history. I don’t care about none of that.
“Like I said, I came into that fight looking to become undisputed [champion]. I became undisputed so there’s nothing there for me to accomplish [at welterweight]. I did what I said I was going to do. I came, I saw, I conquered, and it’s on to the next.
“They pick and choose who they wanna grant certain things to, and if they was gonna do something like that, they should have stripped Spence prior to the fight, given that they knew it was a two-fight deal going into the fight. They knew I couldn’t just get out of my contract with Spence to fight ‘Boots’. It is what it is.
“I know that’s not ideal [for Ennis] – how he wanted to win it. I know he’s disappointed that he couldn’t win it from a champion and what not. It’s disappointing for him. But if I was him I would just tell them I want to fight for it. I’d rather fight the number three guy if I couldn’t get the other guy. ‘Don’t send me a belt in the mail.’
“It just seem like everybody cool with them email champions now and what not, just to be called a world champion. He got three belts. He got, like, two interim belts, and now they’re gonna send him the same belt. It’s like, come on, man. You’re walking around with the three same belts.
“He waited a long time. I can’t knock him ‘cause I was in that position once before, waiting my time trying to fight Spence – trying to get these big opportunities to get these guys in the ring with me and I understand his frustration. I been on the other side of the stick before, so I know it’s frustration that he can’t get these fights, but it’s part of the game.
“In the future, yeah, definitely [Ennis will be the world’s leading welterweight]. When Terence Crawford leave the division. But right now Terence Crawford is the ultimate of all ultimate, in the division.
“He got a bright future. He’s talented. He’s crafty. Got a lot of skills. Only time will tell.”
