By JEFF SORBY
May 25, 2023 Source: Boxing News 247
Photo Source: Tom Hogan, BLK Prime
Oscar De La Hoya feels that Terence Crawford has too many technical skills and his ring IQ is too high for Errol Spence Jr for him to lose to the three-belt welterweight champion in their undisputed 147-lb clash on July 29th on Showtime PPV.
Spence-Crawford was announced as a done deal today for July 29th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. De La Hoya views WBO champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) as too good for IBF/WBA/WBC champ Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), and he will show that when they get inside the ring. Oscar says Spence can win, but it would require that he knocks out the 36-year-old Crawford, and that’s not likely to happen. According to De La Hoya, Crawford moves too well for him to get caught by Spence and knocked out. Spence typically does well against the opponents that stand directly in front of him, making it easy to get his shots off.
De La Hoya acknowledges that Spence & Crawford are both getting old, and there’s no telling what they have left. Crawford has been fighting lesser opposition exclusively since moving up to 147 five years ago in 2018, and he fought inferior fighters when he campaigns at 140.
Bud Crawford’s wins at 140 & 147: David Avanesyan, Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Jeff Horn, Shawn Porter, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Jose Benavidez, Julius Indongo, Felix Diaz, John Molina, Viktor Postol, Hank Lundy, Dierry Jean, Thomas Dulorme
“It hasn’t changed because they haven’t fought since I picked Crawford to win,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV about his view that Terence Crawford will defeat Errol Spence Jr. “I don’t think anything has changed except they’re getting older. They’re both getting older as we speak, but I think that Crawford still has the ability, the boxing skill, and IQ. You can see it. “You don’t have to be a genius to know who’s the better boxer. Spence, don’t get me wrong, he’s a great fighter. We built him, Golden Boy built him.
So Spence has a tremendous shot of knocking him out if he catches him. “He has tremendous power, tremendous IQ, but I think Crawford has better leg movement. He knows how to slip and slide, move in and out and bounce on his toes and throw punches in bunches. “You can’t win a fight by throwing one or two punches if your opponent Crawford is going to throw four, five, or six punches, then obviously he’s going to talk the rounds and win the fight just like what happened with Lomachenko and Haney. Read: Devin Haney slams Bob Arum, calls him "Old a**" for saying he lost to Lomachenko “I strongly feel Crawford and Spence are both great fighters, but in my humble opinion is that Crawford has the better ability. He has the better arsenal inside the ring,” said De La Hoya.
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