rrol Spence has confirmed that he will swiftly exercise his clause for a rematch against Terence Crawford, despite being dominated by his rival.
Crawford produced an all-time great performance to make history as boxing’s first male two-weight undisputed world champion of the four-belt era in Las Vegas on Saturday night, battering a bloodied and stunned Spence and delivering three ruthless knockdowns en route to a brutal ninth-round stoppage.
‘Bud’ also laid a huge claim to the title of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, staying undefeated at 40-0 with 31 knockouts and inflicting Spence’s first professional loss in the process as he added the WBA, WBC and IBF titles at 147 pounds to the WBO strap he has held since 2018.
Three-division world champion Crawford is 8-0 since moving up to welterweight after a stint as undisputed at light-welterweight, knocking out everyone put in his path including now no fewer than six current or former world champions.
Despite the totally one-sided nature of what many had billed as the biggest occasion in the sport since Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao in 2015, Spence remains motivated to swiftly avenge his maiden defeat with a December bout that he hopes is contested up at the light-middleweight limit of 154 pounds, having said many times in the build-up to the fight that it would be his last at welter due to his struggle to make the weight.
“We’ve got to do it again. I would be a lot better, it would be a lot closer. We got to do it again,” Spence said immediately after the fight of another meeting with Crawford this year.
He later said in his post-bout press conference: “I’m definitely open to the rematch and hopefully it will be at 154 pounds.”
Asked if the public would “buy” a rematch between the duo after the completely one-sided nature of their first fight on Saturday, Crawford said: “Of course the public would buy it, look how many people came out to show us both support tonight.
“If the fight happens again I am pretty sure the support will come out again for both of us.”
Crawford also appeared open to the prospect of moving up to 154 pounds to facilitate the rematch with Spence.
“147 pounds was kinda hard for me too,” he said. “I was already talking about moving up and challenging [undisputed light-middleweight world champion] Jermell Charlo, so 154 pounds wouldn’t be out of reach.”
