Notebook: Spence says Crawford talks have begun, doesn't see any stumbling blocks

Taylor loses undisputed status; Saturday Top Rank undercard set; Quick hits; Show and tell

May 17, 2022

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Three-belt welterweight titleholder Errol Spence Jr. is confident that a unification fight against WBO titlist Terence Crawford for the undisputed championship will be finalized and take place later this year.

Since Spence knocked out Yordenis Ugas in the 10th round to unify the WBC, IBF and WBA 147-pound titles on April 16, he has been extremely outspoken about his desire to next fight promotional and broadcast free agent Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), 34, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), 32, of DeSoto, Texas, was ringside on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, for the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano undisputed junior middleweight title fight — won by close friend Charlo, with whom he shares trainer Derrick James — and reiterated his stance on the fight with Crawford during an interview on the Showtime broadcast with Jim Gray.

“I think it’s gonna happen,” Spence said of the Crawford fight. “It’s a fight I definitely want. I definitely want it this year. So, hopefully, we can make it happen. But I think we can make it happen because I want it, he want it. I think we can come to terms and we can fight this year.”

Spence said his adviser, Premier Boxing Champions’ Al Haymon, is talking to Crawford about the bout.

“It’s just talking stages right now. We’re talking about it now, but he definitely wants the fight,” Spence said. “Al told me he definitely wants the fight and he’s been vocal about wanting the fight. I called him out this year after my fight (against Ugas). I said that’s the guy I want to fight. It’s for undisputed. It’s the biggest fight in boxing. I feel like a lot of fans want to see it. It’s a huge fight for both of us.

“I don’t see any stumbling blocks. I want it. He want it. I got three belts, he got the one belt. That’s the only belt I need to become undisputed welterweight champion of the world. That’s been something I’ve been very adamant about (doing). It’s something I really want to do, so we’re gonna get it done.”

Taylor no longer undisputed

Josh Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs), 31, of Scotland, who unified all four junior welterweight titles by decision over Jose Ramirez last May, has lost that status just short of one year later when then the WBA stripped him of its 140-pound belt.

The reason was because Taylor declined to face unknown mandatory challenger Albert Puello in a fight TGB Promotions won rights to at a purse bid for just $200,000, meaning a $110,000 purse for Taylor, who has been making low seven figures for recent fights.

His promoter, Top Rank, did not participate in the bidding process last month because Taylor never planned to fight Puello in a bout with no public interest.

Puello (20-0, 10 KOs), 27, of the Dominican Republic, signed his end of the deal on May 3, but Taylor did not sign within the 20 days allotted nor did he communicate with the WBA, the organization said.

“Due to the lack of response from Taylor’s team, the (WBA championship) committee proceeded to vacate the WBA 140-pound title, understanding that the rules must be known by all fighters who fight for a championship or are champions of the sanctioning body,” the WBA said in a statement.

Taylor made one defense of the undisputed crown, winning a tremendously controversial split decision over England’s Jack Catterall, the WBO mandatory challenger, on Feb. 26 in Glasgow, Scotland.

With the belt now vacant, the WBA has called for a hearing on Tuesday with the representatives of the top six boxers in its junior welterweight rankings “with the intention of seeking the best solution” to fill the vacancy, the WBA said.

The fighters involved are Puello, Ismael Barroso, Ohara Davies, Sandor Martin, former titleholder Regis Prograis and Batyr Akhmedov.

TV time for Tiger

Welterweight Tiger Johnson, a 2020 U.S. Olympian, has been added to the televised portion of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday (8 p.m. ET), the company announced on Monday.

Johnson (3-0, 2 KOs), 23, of Cleveland, will be in a six-rounder against an opponent expected to be announced on Tuesday. The fight will open the televised tripleheader headlined by the Janibek Alimkhanuly-Danny Dignum bout for the vacant WBO interim middleweight title and the 10-round lightweight co-feature between former junior lightweight titlist Jamel Herring and Jamaine Ortiz at Resorts World in Las Vegas.

Top Rank also announced the rest of the undercard, which will stream on ESPN+ beginning at 5:15 p.m. ET:

Glendale, California, featherweight standout Adam Lopez (15-3, 6 KOs) will face William Encarnacion (19-2, 15 KOs), of the Dominican Republic, in an eight-rounder.
Junior lightweight Karlos Balderas (12-1, 11 KOs), a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Santa Maria, California, will face Ruben Cervera (13-2, 11 KOs), of Colombia, in a six- or eight-rounder.
Former junior featherweight titlist Jessie Magdaleno (28-1, 18 KOs), a southpaw from Las Vegas, will end a 22-month layoff for an eight-round featherweight fight against Mexico’s Edy Valencia Mercado (19-6-6, 7 KOs). Since losing his title to Isaac Dogboe by 11th-round knockout in 2018, Magdaleno has won three featherweight fights in a row.
Featherweight Duke Ragan (5-0, 1 KO), a 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist from Cincinnati, Ohio, will face Victorino Gonzalez (5-2, 2 KOs), of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, in a four- or six-rounder.
Light heavyweight Steven Nelson (17-0, 14 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, who has not fought since September 2020 because he tore an Achilles shortly after his most recent bout, will return for an eight-rounder against Lynwood, California’s Louis Rose (17-3-1, 7 KOs) in an eight-rounder.
Chicago lightweight Giovanni Cabrera will face Argentina’s Elias Araujo (21-4, 8 KOs) in an eight-rounder.
Lightweight Charlie Sheehy (2-0, 2 KOs), of Brisbane, California, will meet Burnell Jenkins (2-1, 1 KO), of New Orleans, in a four-rounder.
Junior welterweight Kasir Goldston (4-0, 1 KO), an Albany, New York, southpaw, will face Cuban Yaniel Alvarez (2-1, 1 KO) in a four- or six-rounder.

Quick hits

Former welterweight titlist Victor Ortiz (32-7-3, 25 KOs), 35, a southpaw from Ventura, California, is slated to fight in a preliminary bout on the non-televised portion of the David Benavidez-David card on Saturday night (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET) at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Ortiz is due to face Todd Manuel (20-19-1, 6 KOs), 29, of Rayne, Louisiana, in a 10-round junior middleweight bout. Ortiz ended a 3½ layoff last August and lost a close decision — 96-94 on all three scorecards — to former titlist Robert Guerrero on the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas undercard. Ortiz is 1-2-1 in his last four. Manuel is 1-2 in his last three bouts.

IBF flyweight titlist Sunny Edwards (18-0, 4 KOs), 26, wants to move up and challenge British countryman Paul Butler, 33, the newly crowned WBO titlist, with whom he shares promoter Probellum. “I am 1 billion percent serious about fighting Paul Butler,” Edwards said. “I don't say things that I don't mean. Not in boxing, not in my private life. It's a fight I'd be 100 percent confident with. It would be an inter-Probellum fight, it would be an all-British world title fight, but I couldn't really see it happening if I'm honest, because if I was Paul Butler, I would stay every possible mile in this world away from me and I think that will be the response.”

Per California State Athletic Commission, official contract purses from Saturday’s PBC card: Jermell Charlo $1 million, Brian Castano $500,000; Jaron Ennis $400,000, Custio Clayton $100,000; Kevin Gonzalez $6,250, Emanuel Rivera $25,000; Brandyn Lynch $10,000, Marcos Hernandez $10,000; Jerry Perez $7,000, Erick Lanzas Jr. $5,000; Marlon Tapales $15,000, Jose Estrella $3,000; Jose Perez $6,000, Anthony Chavez $6,000; Anthony Cuba $5,000, Oscar Acevedo $5,000; Jose Mejia Jr. $2,000, Matthew Reed $2,000; Luciano Sanchez $2,000, Adrian Silva $2,000; Gurgen Hovhannisyan $6,000, Jesse Bryan $6,000; Geovany Bruzon $4,000, Daniel Najera $5,000.

Per California State Athletic Commission, official contract purses from Saturday’s Golden Boy card: Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez $1 million, Dominic Boesel $100,000; William Zepeda $45,000, Rene Alvarado $25,000; John Ramirez $10,000, Jan Salvatierra $12,500; Katsuma Akitsugi $12,500, Jose Gonzalez $13,000; Jorge Chavez $4,000, Eduardo Melendez $1,500; Japhethlee Llamido $1,000, Edgar Figueroa $4,000; Carlos Nava $3,500, Yampier Hernandez $2,500; Kareem Hackett $1,500, Josue Obando $6,000.

Per California State Athletic Commission, official contract purses from Saturday’s Triller card: Sergey Kovalev $500,000; Tervel Pulev $195,454; Kubrat Pulev $204,545, Jerry Forrest $140,000; Emiliano Vargas $10,000, Mark Salgado $5,000; Evan Holyfield $13,000, Jurmain McDonald $7,500; Fernando Vargas Jr. $10,000, Terrance Jarmon $7,000; Amado Vargas $10,000; Anel Dudo $5,000.

Show and tell

For many years, Juan Manuel Marquez could not land a shot at a world title. He was blatantly avoided by Naseem Hamed even when he was the longtime WBO mandatory challenger. But not only did he eventually go on to win a world title he became an all-time great and a Hall of Famer. He even separated himself from and surpassed his more famous Mexican countrymen Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera by becoming a stalwart on the pound-for-pound list and winning seven world titles in four weight classes from featherweight to junior welterweight. Among the top fighters he defeated were Barrera for a junior lightweight title, Joel Casamayor by knockout for the lineal lightweight title and Juan Diaz by knockout in a lightweight title bout. Of course, he is most famous for his raging four-fight series with Manny Pacquiao in four great fights. Officially, Marquez was 1-2-1 against Pacquiao with a legit argument he won all four of them. He did win the fight with the only definitive result in the series, a massive sixth-round out-cold, face-first KO in their final showdown.

Marquez fought just twice more after that historic victory over Pacquiao, a split decision loss to Timothy Bradley in a welterweight world title fight and what turned out to be his final bout, a clear unanimous decision over Mike Alvarado in which they were both knocked down. Marquez hoped to fight again but could not overcome a knee injury, so the Alvarado victory goes down as his final fight. I was ringside to cover it (one of 14 Marquez fights I covered in person) at The Forum in Inglewood, California on May 17, 2014 — eight years ago on Tuesday. Here is an extremely rare HBO poster for the fight in my collection.

Spence photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Taylor photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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