By: Sean Crose
Golden Boy Promotions honcho, and Hall of Fame fighter, Oscar De La Hoya is working to signal WBO welterweight titlist Terence Crawford onto the roster. De La Hoya posted a pic of himself and Crawford, together with fellow Golden Boy Promotions honcho (and fellow Hall of Famer) Bernard Hopkins on Saturday evening. De La Hoya then advised Chris Mannix he’d prefer to see Crawford face Alexis Rocha. What’s extra, De La Hoya made it clear he favored the thought of Crawford going through Virgil Ortiz after that. Lastly, and maybe most significantly, De La Hoya stated that he may make a a lot hoped for struggle between Crawford and fellow welterweight titlist Errol Spence develop into a actuality.
There’s quite a bit to unload right here. First, Crawford hasn’t been in a position to land a struggle with Spence up till this level. Each facet is blaming the opposite, however the fact is that the extremely anticipated struggle, though now previous it’s sell-by date, is one thing followers want to see. De La Hoya says he could make it occur. Yet he’s indicated he could make it occur AFTER Crawford fights Rocha first, after which Ortiz. The fact is that the 35 yr outdated Crawford isn’t getting any youthful, neither is the 32 yr outdated Spence. Talks have dragged on for thus lengthy that some followers have just about determined a Spence-Crawford struggle isn’t going to occur.
What’s extra, there’s a brand new breed of welterweight on the best way up. Great as they’re, Crawford and Spence aren’t Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. If they meet too far previous their respective primes, there’s much less of an opportunity the Spence-Crawford bout might be a serious attraction. If Crawford had been to first face Rocha and Ortiz, it will be over a yr a minimum of earlier than he and Spence had been to get contained in the ring. On prime of all that, though Rocha and Ortiz are gifted, nobody charges they’re on the extent of Spence.
On the opposite hand, Crawford doesn’t have a ton of choices in the intervening time. Having the backing of a serious group like Golden Boy Promotions means there’s much less of a chance for his profession to proceed stagnating. It additionally means individuals who actually know the ins and outs of negotiations might be having his again when it’s time to sit down down talk about a serious bout.
It is, to make certain, an attention-grabbing scenario.
