WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 27-0 (21) has tipped former world champion Shawn ‘Showtime’ Porter 31-3-1 (17) to dethrone WBO boss Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0 (28) if they end up fighting.
The 31-year-old Texan southpaw recently announced he would be facing Filipino superstar and fellow lefty Manny Pacquiao 62-7-2 (39) in Las Vegas on August 21.
Omaha southpaw Crawford, 33, was also in the running to face Pacquiao but a big money fight in Dubai fell through when a guaranteed site fee could not be secured.
Now Spence would like to see his rival face Porter instead.
“If Terence is going to box him and get out of the way like John Molina or like he did Postol, I got Terence Crawford,” Spence said to Barbershop Conversations.
“If Terence Crawford dog fights him, I got Shawn Porter. Jaron Ennis, I don’t know how well his chin can hold up, but if it can, I have Jaron beating Shawn Porter in a rough, tough fight.”
While Spence was negotiating with Pacquiao, the backup plan was to face Yordenis Ugas 26-4 (12) for the WBA title if that fight fell through.
A bout with Crawford is still a possibility in the future.
“That fight was going to happen regardless,” said Spence. “[Crawford’s promoter] Bob [Arum] talks a lot of things, but [Spence’s promoter] Al [Haymon] gets the job done.
“Ugas was in play. If I didn’t get the Manny Pacquiao fight, I was going to fight Ugas for the WBA. But I got the Pacquiao fight, so I put Ugas on the backburner.
“Once I get that belt, like I told Al, I want that fight with Crawford. If it doesn’t happen, then I’ll probably move up or something because I don’t want to try and fight somebody that doesn’t have any interest anymore.
“He [Crawford] doesn’t want to fight me anymore, but with Manny Pacquiao, he didn’t want to fight him for five years, but he still wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao.
“I don’t get it. If I don’t get that fight [with Crawford], I’ll probably move up.”
A fight against Crawford will need to take place within the next year with Spence planning to move up to junior middleweight after his 30th pro bout.
“I probably got two more fights [at 147] after Pacquiao,” Spence said. “He’s got the WBA belt.
After I take that, then I’m going to go across the street [to Top Rank] and see what they’re talking about and if they’re not talking about nothing [with Crawford], then I’m going up to 154.
“Terence Crawford has been trying to get that fight against Pacquiao for how many years now? It’s been excuses after excuses for Bob. Pacquiao doesn’t care who he fights.
“He’ll fight anybody if the money is right and everything lines up correctly. Pacquiao would have fought him [Crawford]. It didn’t line up for whatever reason. I say blame Bob.”
