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Boxing fans may see a new unified champion come this summer between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford. Crawford captured his first major boxing title back in 2014, with a win over Ricky Burns for the WBO lightweight belt. The following year he moved up to light welterweight, winning the WBO belt immediately again in his new division. By 2017, Crawford had hold of the WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF, and Ring title belts. The next year he made the jump to welterweight, winning the WBO title once again in his new division with a 9th round TKO of Australia’s Jeff Horn.
Crawford has defended that title six times over the past five years, including victories over Amir Khan, Kell Brook, and Shawn Porter. All those victories have come inside the distance.
Errol Spence Jr. will have a chance to unify the welterweight titles
All while Crawford was building his legacy as a multi-division champion, Errol Spence Jr. has been collecting welterweight belts. Crawford got his first chance at boxing gold back in 2017, in his own bout against Brook for the IBF welterweight title. An 11th round KO secured him his piece of hardware, and he defended that title three times before unifying it with the WBC welterweight belt in a split decision win over Shawn Porter in 2019.
Spence defended those belts against Danny Garcia back in 2020, then added one more piece of hardware to his collection in 2022, with a TKO of Yordenis Ugas to win the WBA belt.
Zab Judah was the last welterweight undisputed champ
If Spence and Crawford actually make it into the ring to face off against one another this year, they could unify the welterweight titles for the first time since Zab Judah’s reign atop the division back in 2005-2006. Judah eventually lost the WBC and Ring titles in a unanimous decision to Carlos Baldomir, and followed that fight with the loss of his IBF belt a few months later against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The 33-year-old Errol Spence Jr. currently sits with an unbeaten record of 28-0. While the 35-year old Crawford is 39-0 with 30 wins inside the distance. According to a report from RingTV.com, the pair are currently targeting a bout on Jun 17th in Las Vegas, NV. The pair had previously been in talks to meet last November, but negotiations broke down. An official announcement of the bout is expected to be made on April 22nd during the PPV boxing event between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia.
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