Bob Arum had always insisted that Terence Crawford would defeat Errol Spence if the pair would ever meet in the ring.
As July 29th edges closer and closer, Arum has still not changed his mind on who will win this upcoming Saturday’s undisputed welterweight encounter, which will be taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Vegas oddsmakers currently have Crawford as an ever so slight favourite at the time of publication, and those odds may change before the pair hear the first bell in what is expected to be one the highlight fights of the year for 2023.
Arum, who had previously promoted Crawford for the majority of his career, securing him opportunities from lightweight and through to his current standing as WBO welterweight champion, feels that Crawford could secure himself a stoppage victory against the larger man in the form of Spence.
“I think he has more tools by far than Spence, who’s the naturally bigger guy,” Arum told BoxingScene.com. “But I think Terence’s ability to fight with either hand is a big, big plus in boxing. Crawford’s performances were always spectacular, even though it didn’t appear so because his skills were so much above anyone that he was fighting. But he’s the goods. And I say this even though we don’t promote him anymore. But he’s still Terence Crawford, and he’s a tremendous fighter.”
Arum believes that the opening half of the twelve-round contest will be an even affair but feels that his former promotional charge will take over in the second half of the contest.
“He’ll stop Spence later in the fight,” Arum said, “because he’ll be experimenting with both hands, both as an orthodox fighter and as a southpaw, and he’s equally good fighting either way. If Spence is able to match him, which I expect when he fights orthodox, he’ll switch up to southpaw, and I don’t think Spence has an answer for it.”
