One of the longest-talked-about fights in boxing is finally coming together as welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford are set for a massive four-belt unification on July 29 in Las Vegas, both fighters announced on Thursday. The fight will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and air live on Showtime PPV.
Spence and Crawford are two of the elite pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and their presence in the same division has led to years of demand for the two to clash and determine the top fighter at 147 pounds. As happens so often, boxing's political games got in the way of it happening as Crawford was signed to Top Rank while Spence was part of Premier Boxing Champions' deep roster of welterweights.
With Crawford's Top Rank deal done, he was free to seek fights that were unavailable in the past, including finally showing down with Spence. Unfortunately, the fight failed to come together on the first attempt.
The two sides negotiated for a long stretch of 2022, with the fight repeatedly seeming like a done deal at several points. The two sides were ultimately unable to get over the finish line, with a very public breakdown in the negotiations, including issues with revenue splits and rematch clauses.
Crawford bowed out of negotiations at that point and instead fought David Avanesyan in a fight that streamed on BLK Prime. Crawford scored a stoppage in the sixth round while also claiming to have made a career-high payday for the fight.
Crawford (38-0, 29 KO) holds the WBO title, which he won in June 2018 with a knockout of Jeff Horn. He has successfully defended his title six times, most recently defeating Avanesyan. Crawford has also held world titles at lightweight and light welterweight in his career.
Spence (28-0, 22 KO) holds the IBF, WBC and WBA world titles at 147 pounds. The WBA belt is the newest to his collection, with Spence picking it up with a knockout win over Yordenis Ugas in April. He first became champion in May 2017 with a win over Kell Brook. A win over Porter in September 2019 gave Spence the WBC belt.
