Spence stated his case for that spot with a lopsided unanimous decision over former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Danny Garcia in retaining his WBC and IBF welterweight titles that only lacked a stoppage to prove about all one could prove in a victory.
Spence had been out of the ring since his September win over Shawn Porter due to a bad car accident and everyone wondered how that would affect the champion with some giving Garcia a better chance than usual to pull an upset because who knew how Spence would return to the ring.
The answer was simple- Spence was as sharp as ever in a win that couldn't have been much easier in defeating a top-five level opponent after time away from the game.
Spence's win over Garcia was far more conclusive than Garcia's other two (official, I'll never forgive the judges for giving Garcia the win over Mauricio Herrera) defeats against Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter and no one is going to want to see a rematch.
Spence never seriously hurt Garcia, but he used a thudding jab to swell Garcia's left eye and cheekbone that didn't allow Garcia to get any type of offensive attack moving.
Garcia was unable to counter Spence, yet didn't attempt to initiate often and even though Garcia did a reasonable job in making Spence miss, Garcia was never able to gain the respect of Spence with anything coming back at the Texan.
I scored Spence a 118-110 winner, which was a little wider than the official cards (116-112 twice and 117-111), but the victory was a definitive one and gave boxing followers one fact- We may not know who is the better welterweight in the world right now, but we know that there is a sizable drop from the top two to the next level of welterweight with Shawn Porter, Garcia, Keith Thurman, and Manny Pacquiao.
Spence didn't seem very excited about facing Crawford next and I'm not sure I blame him.
Spence is thought to be the stronger fighter and bigger puncher, but against Garcia who is better at 140 pounds than 147, he never hurt him, and against Shawn Porter, while he did knock Porter down in the eleventh round, it may be that Spence is a very strong fighter and not a huge puncher although a very good one.
If Spence isn't the power puncher that he is reputed to, he might have to use his physical strength on the leaner Crawford to try to win a potential battle and I'm not sure Spence has the quickness in his feet to stay with Crawford.
While the matchup would pit the best two welterweights in the world and this comes from a fan of both fighters, Errol Spence might have a difficult time matching up against Terence Crawford from a style perspective and that could be the most insurmountable obstacle of all in getting the fight everyone wants to see in the ring.
As for Danny Garcia, he simply didn't throw enough punches and confirmed the opinion that while he was an elite fighter at junior welterweight, he's merely very good at 147 pounds, and might have seen his peak years behind him.
That's not saying that Garcia is done by any means or even that he doesn't have some top wins still in him, but he may have passed the day that he is going to be really competitive against the elite in the division.
In the co-feature, 6'5 junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora knocked late replacement, Habib Ahmed, around the ring for a round and a half before referee Lawrence Cole stopped the mismatch.
This was a WBC title eliminator, so Fundora may be in line for another eliminator in the future for an eventual title shot against three-title champion Jermell Charlo down the road.
Fundora has been impressive in his last two wins and seems to be transitioning to more of a puncher rather than using his massive height and reach to outbox opponents.
I'll be interested in seeing how he fares in his next step up in competition...
In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica four to two to stretch my lead to 167-154.
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