Errol Spence Jr. wasn’t the only opponent Terence Crawford was negotiating to fight next.
Crawford told ESPN.com on Thursday night that he will fight David Avanesyan on December 10 at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford’s hometown. The 35-year-old Crawford will make a voluntary defense of his WBO welterweight title against the Russian-born Avanesyan, who is the WBO’s sixth-ranked contender for Crawford’s WBO 147-pound title.
Crawford’s confirmation of his deal to square off against Avanesyan brought an abrupt end to the prolonged negotiations for his long-discussed showdown with Errol Spence Jr., who owns the IBF, WBA and WBC welterweight titles. Crawford-Spence is generally regarded as the most meaningful non-heavyweight fight that can be made in boxing, but they failed to come to an agreement despite more than four months of negotiations.
ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger reported Thursday night that Crawford-Avanesyan will headline a pay-per-view show that’ll be distributed by BLK Prime for $39.95.
Crawford told ESPN.com that he struck a deal to fight Avanesyan because he didn’t think Spence’s side was serious about making their fight next. BoxingScene.com reported Thursday morning that Spence’s side had grown concerned that Crawford was no longer committed to facing him next (https://www.boxingscene.com/growing-concern-on-spences-side-crawfords-team-committed-fight–169858).
Crawford could revisit the Spence fight assuming the heavily favored three-division champion defeats Avanesyan. Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), a southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, is now also likely to move in a different direction for his next fight, which could come against longtime rival Keith Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) or WBA world welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC).
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) hasn’t boxed in the 11 months since he stopped former IBF/WBC champ Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) in the 10th round at Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. The Omaha, Nebraska native’s promotional contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. expired after Crawford topped Porter.
The 34-year-old Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs), of Newark, England, had been training to make a mandatory defense of his European Boxing Union 147-pound championship against Spain’s Jon Miguez (17-0, 8 KOs) on November 19 at Telford International Centre in Telford, England. Avaneysan, who is represented by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, withdrew from that much lower-profile fight with Miguez for an opportunity to challenge one of the best boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport.
Avanesyan has won six straight fights since Lithuania’s Egidijus Kavaliauskas stopped him in the sixth round of their February 2018 bout in Reno, Nevada. Crawford dropped Kavaliauskas (23-2-1, 18 KOs) three times and won by ninth-round technical knockout in December 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. is the WBO’s mandatory challenger for Crawford’s 147-pound championship, but the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning organization hasn’t ordered Crawford to defend his title against Ortiz next. The 24-year-old Ortiz, of Grand Prairie, Texas, has knocked out all 19 of his professional opponents.
–boxingscene.com
