By Joshua Garcia
Promotional tours are as big a part of boxing as championship belts and sanctioning bodies. For a fight that needs absolutely zero effort in selling itself to the public, the Errol Spence Jr. versus Terence Crawford bout is off to a sizzling start.
Tuesday, the first press conference got underway at the glitzy Beverly Hills Hotel, and it was spicier than the salsitas at a taco stand in nearby East Los Angeles. After years of back and forth, two of Boxing’s biggest names and most prolific stars stood face-to-face with each other in anticipation of their July 29th date in Las Vegas.
There is without a doubt an understood respect between the two fighters for each other, but make no mistake, too much is on the line here and it doesn’t take very much for that slight admiration to wither away and turn into a bitter war of words until their fists can ultimately do the talking at T Mobile Arena. Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford view their opponent in an identical fashion, the path to push their career in the direction they want, rather, need it to go.
The initial few minutes of the press conference felt like round 1 of a championship fight, Errol Spence Jr. And his team said the right things and Terence Crawford and his infamous trainer danced around some verbal jabs as they both felt each other out. The presser took a decided turn however, when Showtime Boxing’s moderator asked both fighters about the Las Vegas Sportsbook odds on who would enter fight night as the favorite.
Errol Spence Jr. was quick to point out that many underdogs have won fights they weren’t supposed to according to odds-makers, to which Terence Crawford quipped back “they know what’s going to happen, that’s why.”
If the room had blood pressure, it was sure on the rise after the sparring session of words broke out on the ground floor ballroom as Hollywood’s A-listers slept in, in their gaudy hotel suites above. In response to Errol Spence Jr.’s nickname, ‘The Big Fish’, Terence Crawford chimed in, “I’m gonna gut him…you call yourself a big fish, we’re gonna have enough food for everybody.”
Errol Spence Jr. who may be as quick with his words as he is with his footwork in the ring struck back with a joke about Terence Crawford’s nickname, Bud. Laughingly saying, “go get that hot pack, because we gonna roll him up and smoke him.”
The two-leg promo tour of Los Angeles and New York has been completed, and frankly it’s a lot more entertaining than it even needed to be for a fight of this magnitude. Did you really expect any less from what is definitely the biggest fight of the last decade? Maybe, as Terence Crawford stated, the best of the last 40 years.
No matter which fighter you stand behind, oh and it’s a hot debate topic, but every bit of the ride toward fight night is going to be epic. Enjoy this special moment while it lasts boxing fans, because for all of the sport’s faults, this time they actually got it right.
