Podcast: All you need to hear about Crawford demolishing Spence

Plus: Full analysis of the undercard fights; news items; anniversary ringside memories of a loaded card headlined by Roy Jones

Dan Rafael

Jul 31, 2023

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LAS VEGAS — There is just one big show to discuss and it was the PBC/Showtime PPV on Saturday night headlined by Terence Crawford’s historic annihilation of Errol Spence Jr. to become the undisputed welterweight champion in the year’s most significant fight. We broke down the fight in detail, as well as the undercard, and also went over a couple of news items and looked back on the anniversary of a loaded card headlined by the prime Roy Jones that I covered.

Here’s what we discussed on this episode (in order):

Immediate impressions of Crawford’s dominating beat down of Spence and its place in history.
The atmosphere; the ring walks; the excitement of the opening bell; the fight; Crawford knocking Spence down three times; the punishment Spence took; Crawford’s devastating jab; the negating of Spence’s; when it was clear the result was going to be a Crawford win; Spence’s class after the fight; the historic magnitude of Crawford’s win; the prospect of Spence’s opting for his rematch right; will it be at 154 if it happens.
The pound-for-pound debate after Crawford and Naoya Inoue both scored huge victories within a few days of each other. Who’s No. 1?
Isaac Cruz’s sloppy win over Giovanni Cabrera in a WBC/WBA lightweight title eliminator in the co-feature.
Alexandro Santiago’s upset decision over Nonito Donaire to win the vacant WBC bantamweight title.
Junior middleweight prospect Yoenis Tellez’s impressive knockout of Sergio Garcia.
WBC junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis and undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney agreeing to terms for a fall fight.
Featherweight titlist Leigh Wood receiving a special permit from the WBA to bypass his mandatory defense against Othabek Kholmatov for one fight to first face Josh Warrington.
Former lightweight contender Felix Verdejo being convicted of murdering his mistress and their unborn child.
Ringside memories on the 22nd anniversary of a loaded Top Rank card I covered in Los Angeles headlined by the prime undisputed light heavyweight champion Roy Jones’ rout of Julio Gonzalez but with the Erik Morales-Injin Chi featherweight title fight co-feature stealing the show with their epic battle. It also featured the first welterweight title bout between Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis and Ricardo Mayorga and a young Miguel Cotto.