Mikey Garcia gives Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 38-0 (29) the edge in a potential bout against Errol ‘The Turth’ Spence Jr 28-0 (22).
Negotiations for a fight between WBO welterweight champion Crawford and WBC, WBA and IBF champion Spence fell apart last month, but the fight could be revisited next year.
Retired three-weight world champion Garcia, who lost by shutout to Spence in March 2019, says the fight is almost to close to pick.
“I think that’s going to be a great match-up. It’s 50-50,” Garcia told FightHype. “If I had to pick a side for at least what it is right now, I’m going to lean toward Crawford. I think he might be able to make adjustments on the spot, on the fly a little bit better, but not by a lot.
“Spence manages the distance really well and is able to control the distance with short little movements. It’s a tough one to call, but I’m thinking Crawford, maybe.
“Everybody has the power at that point. They’re at the highest level. The only difference is [Crawford and Spence] are too smart to knock each other out. I think it’s going to be a very technical fight.
“All it takes is one punch, and [Spence] never landed that one punch that could have hurt me. He could land that against anybody else. That’s what makes a difference.
“When I say I’m going to lean a little bit toward Crawford, it’s just an instinct, maybe. It’s not where I can pinpoint why. It’s a close fight.”
Instead of facing Spence, Crawford will now lock horns with David Avanesyan 29-3-1 (17).
“A lot of people don’t know him, but the boxing diehards [do] know him,” Crawford said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “They just act like they don’t because they’re kind of disappointed in the way negotiations went with me and Errol Spence, so of course they’re gonna try and throw shade on the fight. Like, ‘Oh he’s fighting this guy.’
“But this guy that I’m fighting is a real guy. He’s a real challenge. He’s dangerous because he’s got everything to win — I mean, those guys right there that have nothing to lose are the most difficult guys to fight, with a lot of passion, a lot of determination, and a lot of will to win to dethrone you.
“I’m not listening to all these guys, ‘Oh, he’s fighting a bum, a cab driver, this and that.’ Because they don’t know boxing. There’s a reason why a lot of people turned this guy down to fight him and why he hadn’t gotten his shot.
“Me, personally, I’m gonna go in there and do what I’m supposed to do. I’m focused, I’ve been training tremendously hard like I would anybody else. I never take any opponent lightly.”
