BOXING · Sat (7/29) @ 10:00 pm ET
| Errol Spence Jr. | at | Terence Crawford |
| T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas , NV | ||
The boxing and betting communities eagerly await Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford finally staging their marquee welterweight unification bout. It was on and then abruptly off last fall for the fighters who stand a combined 67-0 and in the top 5 of all pound-for-pound ratings in the sport.
Tuesday night, it appeared on again with an ESPN report that the fighters had agreed to a July 29 showdown at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The report is creditable enough that the Crawford vs. Spence odds are available on several of the top sports betting apps.
As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings’ betting line has Crawford as the -135 favorite and Spence the +105 underdog. FanDuel prices the fight a coin flip at -112 on either side.
SuperBook USA has been dealing Crawford -120/Spence +100, with the caveat that the fight must take place by Dec. 31, 2023 for action. With Tuesday’s news, it appears any bets placed so far at the book are on.
Will Crawford vs. Spence Jr. Really Happen This Time?
As of Wednesday morning, neither fighter has acknowledged the July 29 bout on his Twitter page, and nothing has come from the promoters, managers, or trainers. All media coverage had evolved only from the ESPN report. The fight has not been formally signed.
But it has been, from an emotional standpoint, sealed, and delivered. Twitter became a breeding ground for opinion on the outcome and debate on whether this would become a two-, even a three-fight package.
Tuesday’s announcement could go the route of last fall, or it could be the piece of news bringing a highly-awaited showdown to fruition.
In that spirit, therefore, here is a Whenever Betting Analysis for Spence Jr. and Crawford.
Crawford vs. Spence Jr. Betting Overview
Handle could go through the roof because of moneyline appeal on both sides.
The betting price figures to remain in the vicinity of even-money or no worse than -135 or -140 for quite a while.
Boxing fans salivate over any event with betting odds of less than 5-to-1. Spence Jr. and Crawford will be viewed as a coin flip, generating an excellent buying opportunity throughout the buildup.
If any of the favorite lines drift too far up, underdog money on the other side figures to bring it down.
Spence Jr. and Crawford each have a piece of boxing’s welterweight holy grail. Spence holds the WBA, WBC, and IBF belts, while Crawford owns the WBO version.
The winner will presumably walk out with all of them.
Crawford vs. Spence Jr. Props Betting Overview
While props will show up at sportsbooks as fight night approaches, here are some things that will make logical betting sense.
Props will be geared toward this being a long fight, which it should be. Spence’s last four fights have all reached double-digit rounds. Crawford has a mix of mid-round and late-round victories.
Early knockout rounds will have abundant payouts because those results are unlikely.
Gamblers will see “to win by decision” prop prices shorter than most fights, and knockout round props will be heavily weighted to the late rounds. Some knockout-round bets also will be presented in clusters of two, three, four, or six-round groups.
Bettors love the prop razzle dazzle but have every reason to slam the moneyline from either side in this rare matchup.
Bettors Weigh How Spence Jr., Crawford Arrived at the Summit
Spence Jr. is 28-0 with 22 knockouts in a career dating to 2012. His breakthrough occurred via Al Haymon’s PBC boxing series in 2015. There, he launched the bid that would bring him the first belt in a knockout victory over Kell Brook in 2017.
Spence has subsequent pay-per-view triumphs over Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, and Yordenis Ugas, the last in Arlington, Texas, close to his hometown of Dallas, at AT& T Stadium. That one, his most recent fight, brought him the WBA version of the crown in April 2022.
Crawford, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, began his career in 2008. His ascension includes annexing a lightweight title in 2014, a junior welterweight crown in 2015, and his welterweight belt in 2018. He is 39-0 with 30 knockouts.
Crawford has made 16 consecutive title-fight defenses involving those three weight classes, He last fought in December 2022.
Blast From the Past
Anticipation of this bout is reminiscent of the first super fight I ever covered, the 1981 welterweight unification bout between Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns. That was outdoors in the desert at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
That buildup relied on a summer-long, cross-country promotional tour. Here, social media will play the role of the tour, and press conferences will fill in closer to the fight date.
The fans got the thrilling fight they wanted in 1981, when Leonard rallied for a 14th-round technical knockout.
For four decades since, analysts have wondered how well that fight would have done if legalized sports wagering existed nationwide.
The answer might be coming.
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