Months after the car crashed that nearly killed him, Errol Spence Jr. said he is ready to fight again before the end of 2020. The welterweight champion, holder of the IBF and WBC crowns, wants a unification bout with the remaining champs in his division. Now on the crosshair of Spence is Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford will come after.
Pacquiao owns the WBA belt, and it seemed he is first on the list of Spence. The American was impressed by the Filipino boxing legend, who proved last year that he can still score a win, and convincingly. The Pacman snatched the title from Keith Thurman in July 2020 and even knocked down his previously undefeated opponent.
What transpired then in Las Vegas was a shock, according to Spence.
"I didn't think he was going to look that good, I didn't think he was going to look like that," ESPN reported the American champ as saying.
It would seem that Pacquiao's showing versus Thurman convinced Spence that the boxing veteran is worth his trouble. As mentioned, the 30-year-old has a mission to collect all the welterweight crowns the soonest, then he'll move up. Pacquiao's title is first to be picked.
"I would love to fight Pacquiao, he's a future legend, he's a Hall of Famer, he's a guy I would love to fight. He has a belt, too, I would love to get that belt," Spence said.
"My goal is to be undisputed welterweight champion of the world, so I have to fight [Pacquiao] to get one of those belts, unless he vacates or something like that, or somebody else beats him. It's a fight I would love to have," the champ added.
In reality though, the call out to Pacquiao is Spence looking to capitalize on the money-magnet that the Filipino is, according to Bad Left Hook. To date, big fights that hold the Pacquiao label remain the most profitable in boxing history and it's obvious that the American wants to hit the rod while it's red hot.
"Spence potentially has a lot more money he could make in a fight against the Filipino superstar whose stock is high as a proven PPV attraction," said the report.
Spence was supposed to face off with Danny Garcia in January but his accident last year moved that showdown indefinitely. Spence said that after months of recovery, he has no intention of picking up easy bouts if only to feel the groove of fighting again.
He will be duking it out with the best of the welterweights and Crawford surely is on the horizon but that fight will not be penciled anytime soon.
"The reality of the situation is that while Spence-Crawford might rank higher in the minds of a lot of fans at this point ... Don't expect a Spence-Crawford fight to be made any sooner than absolutely necessary," added the same report.
