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Friday, March 29, 2024

Spence vs. Crawford is “50-50 fight” says Chris Algieri

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By Jim Calfa: Chris Algieri says the way that Terence Crawford has grown into the welterweight division puts him on the same level as three-belt unified champion Errol Spence Jr. As such, Algieri says Spence-Crawford is a “50-50 fight” in his mind right now.

Algieri feels that Spence’s eye injury and car accident negate any advantage he would have over the aging 35-year-old Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs). If not for the injury and car crash, Spence would have a clear advantage over Crawford.

“It’s a very interesting fight, obviously, and one of the biggest fights that can be made. Possibly the biggest fight,” said Chris Algieri to Fighthype about the Errol Spence Jr vs. Terence Crawford fight.

“I’ve always been saying that I favor Spence in the fight. But as Crawford has been able to do the work that he’s done in the welterweight division and has really grown into the weight class.

It’s become a 50-50 fight in my mind, and I’m really curious to see what the lead-up is going to be like. That’s the kind of fight where I’m going to go on my gut feeling. It’s not there yet.  It’s got to be close to fight night.

“Crawford is such an anomaly with the fact that he can fight both ways. Righty, lefty. If it’s not working out with his orthodox stance, he’ll switch southpaw. I think he’ll be better off at orthodox against Spence. Who knows?

“The ability to have that switch and still be effective and more so sometimes is a real ace up your sleeve. Crawford is so hard to read, and that’s what makes him so dangerous.

“He’s the kind of guy that develops as the rounds go on. He picks things up, and is constantly analyzing. But Spence puts so much pressure on you that it’s hard to think and analyze.

“He’s [Errol Spence] coming in right through the front door. The guy is like the terminator. He takes shots and has a lot of power. He’s physically very strong and is huge for the weight class. I do believe he’d be the bigger man.

“I think you have to look at the fights where Spence had trouble,” said Algieri when asked what advice he’d give Crawford to beat Spence. “The Shawn Porter fight, and I hate comparing fights. I hate doing boxing math.

“Crawford was able to stop Porter, but Porter gave Spence trouble. It doesn’t really work like that. Anyone that knows boxing doesn’t work like that. But that erraticness that Shawn was able to utilize to keep Spence from putting that constant pressure on can be really beneficial.

“His in and out. He’s actually very good,” said Algieri about Spence. “He comes from a huge amateur background. So he’s got that style where he has the push-pull. He’s much harder to hit than he seems.

“He just takes such a good punch that he doesn’t care. He walks through in order to get his offense going. But if he doesn’t want to get hit, he doesn’t get hit. Look at the Mikey Garcia fight.

“I’ve said that since I fought him [Spence]. I was really impressed with his boxing ability, and the Mikey Garcia fight showed the world that he can really box. Mikey is one of the best boxers around and has been for a long time.

“So for him to go out and outbox the boxer, I think that opened a lot of people’s eyes. Time-wise, this might help Spence a little bit more, but also, Spence has had the car accident; he’s had the eye injury.

“So, I don’t know,” said Algieri when asked if Spence is catching the 35-year-old Crawford at the right time with him not as good as he once was. It comes down to leveling the playing field in terms of where they are time-wise.

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