WBO 154-lb obligatory Terence Crawford has agreed to step apart to permit WBO/WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora to face #1 ranked Errol Spence Jr. subsequent in a voluntary protection in early 2025 in Texas. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will combat the winner of that combat later in 2025.
The WBO had beforehand ordered Fundora and obligatory Crawford to place collectively a deal for a combat with the deadline earlier than October tenth. There would have been a handbag bid tomorrow if not for the take care of Crawford to step apart.
Mike Coppinger says on X that the Spence-Fundora combat might be heading to Texas. There’s no phrase about how a lot Crawford was paid to get him to step apart for the Fundora vs. Spence combat to go forward.
It’s a logical transfer for Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) to take the combat towards Spence first as a result of it’s a extra winnable one, and it’ll pay effectively. Spence has proven to be a much bigger PPV draw throughout his profession than Crawford, who regardless of his expertise, has by no means been a pay-per-view attraction. If Fundora defeats Spence, as many count on him to, he’ll face Crawford in one other profitable combat. As for Spence, retirement could be a possible choice if he’s overwhelmed badly by Fundora.
It’s arduous to know what the 34-year-old Spence has obtained left. When he fought Crawford final 12 months, he’d taken off lots of weight to get right down to the 147-lb restrict, and he appeared a weight-drained fighter in the course of the contest. However now that Spence is preventing at 154 and he’s managed his weight, he may need extra power. That will be a foul factor for Fundora, who has already been knocked as soon as in his profession towards Brian Mendoza within the seventh spherical in April of final 12 months.
Assuming the Spence-Fundora combat occurs in January 2025, Spence might be coming off an 18-month layoff and a foul ninth spherical knockout loss to Crawford. That’s not preferrred for Spence, nevertheless it’s tremendous if that is only a money out kind of combat for him.
If he needed to provide himself an excellent likelihood of beating Fundora, he’d take a warmup combat first, however Spence doesn’t consider in these. Spence had been out of the ring for 14 months earlier than his loss to Crawford in July 2023, and we noticed the outcomes of that inactivity.
