Jake Donovan of BoxingScene.com has reported that Alexis Rocha appears to no longer be facing Terence Crawford, as the WBO number one contender for the welterweight title held by Crawford, will now face Anthony ‘Juice’ Young, on May 27th, on a show broadcast by DAZN from Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California, and promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.
In January, Rocha knocked out Georgie Ashie in the seventh round, as Ashie filled in for Young who pulled out of the fight on six-days notice. The hope from Golden Boy internally was that Rocha would land the Terence Crawford next.
“[Terence] Crawford is next,” said Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, when addressing the media after hugging Rocha in a media scrum, directly after the fight.
This further strengthens the overall hope that the rumor from a RingTV article earlier this week has some truth to it - as Rocha was assumed to be Crawford’s next opponent, if Crawford didn't fight Spence.
For those unaware, the two best welterweights of the modern era, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., have been rumored to face each for at least four years now. The average fight fan suffered a major gut punch this past fall when Crawford took on David Avanesyan rather than Errol Spence Jr. With a slew of super fights being announced in 2023, can we get yet another one with - Spence vs. Crawford. A cryptic tweet by Crawford with the news Rocha has a new opponent seems to indicate that we might have more hope than ever.
“We at the end, [SIC]” tweeted Terence Crawford on March 22nd, which many felt might have been a signal that Crawford versus Spence is close to being made.
