By Norm Frauenheim –
It’s a fight that has already exceeded expectations. Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. got made. There was a deal just a few months after one looked to be impossible.
It’s the beginning of a bout loaded with the potential to deliver a classic and maybe more. An agreement that emerges from a never-never land littered with all of boxing’s usual complications makes just about anything look possible.
Maybe even some history.
A historical parallel, at least, has been introduced and figures to be at the cutting edge of the promotional pitch throughout the month-long build-up before opening bell on July 29 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
It’s no ordinary parallel. Nothing about Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns in September 1981 on a Vegas summer night up the Strip from T-Mobile at an open-air arena behind Caesars Palace was ordinary. It was extraordinary in almost every way. It was a masterpiece, perhaps the best fight in boxing’s modern – and messy — history.
For more than four decades, it’s a fight that has stood alone, unmatched for its artistry and ferocity. There’s never been an encore, and the guess from this corner is that there never will be.
That corner of history belongs to Leonard-Hearns in a drama that saw the fighters switch styles. Leonard, the boxer, became the puncher, scoring a late TKO of the puncher, Hearns, suddenly the boxer. It was a different time, the end of an era when championship fights were scheduled for 15 rounds instead of 12.
In this era, Hearns would have won a 12-round decision. He was leading on all three cards going into the 13th. Then, however, he was stopped suddenly and definitively after Leonard heard and heeded a warning from trainer Angelo Dundee.
“You’re blowing it, son, you’re blowing it,’’ Dundee said.
Leonard flipped a switch — finesse to ferocious – mounting a blitzkrieg burst of violence that left Hearns exhausted and beaten along the ropes at 1:45 of the 14th.
Can history repeat itself? It hasn’t. Not even Hearns and Leonard could in a 1989 rematch that was about eight years too late. Each beyond their prime, they fought to a draw. It was oh-so forgettable. Often, it’s not remembered at all, mostly because of the powerful memory of their first fight, a boxing monument if there ever was one.
Leonard-Hearns, the golden oldie, is still the model. Maybe, Crawford-Spence is the remake.
“This fight is really as big as it gets,’’ Tom Brown, president of TGB Promotions, said on June 14 in New York as he formally announced the bout in the second of coast-to-coast news conferences. “We have the best two fighters in the world, unbeaten and in their prime.
“We haven’t seen fighters with skills like this since Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns.”
There’ll be some debate about that. Leonard was 25, Hearns 22. Crawford is 35, Spence 33. Leonard and Hearns were just entering their prime. Crawford and Spence are leaving theirs.
Over the last four decades, there’s been research, nutrition and technology that allows athletes to extend their careers.
Maybe, Crawford and Spence still have some prime time that Leonard and Hearns didn’t. But this isn’t Olympic swimming. It’s boxing. A single punch on July 29 or forty-two years ago can still end a career.
Still, some potential elements are in place. Crawford enters the biggest welterweight bout in his generation as the boxer. At opening bell, he’ll play Leonard’s role. Yet, his power also has turned him into one of today’s few real finishers. His 39-0 record includes 30 stoppages.
The bigger Spence has the Hearns role. His feared power is an ever-present threat, yet his boxing skill is evident, especially in three of his last four fights – scorecard victories over Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.
For Crawford and Spence, there’s a chance to do what Leonard and Hearns didn’t. Leonard and Hearns didn’t turn their all-time bout into a rivalry. They were finished by the time they got to the rematch. Leonard was 33, Hearns 30 in their June 1989 sequel, a bout fought at a 164-pound catchweight, also at Caesars Palace.
The Crawford-Spence agreement includes a rematch clause. If their promised classic happens, the prediction is that there’ll be rematch later this year.
But first they’ll have to deliver in a way that Floyd Mayweather’s 2015 decision over Manny Pacquiao didn’t. The Mayweather-Pacquiao dud, also at welterweight, didn’t exceed any of the inflated expectations. The disappointment lingered like a lousy hangover for years.
Mayweather-Pacquiao is also history, a lingering lesson and a more recent reminder about what not to repeat.
Guess here, Crawford-Spence won’t be Mayweather-Pacquiao. It won’t be Leonard-Hearns, either. In a fabled weight class, it’s a fight suddenly intriguing for one reason. During an era when so many big fights don’t get made, this one is about to happen.
Call it the opening possibility, perhaps the first of many that haven’t been seen for far too long.
Jesus Ramos poised for next lesson
Jesus Ramos, of Casa Grande AZ, is beginning to look like the hottest prospect to emerge from Arizona since super-middleweight contender and two-time former WBC champion David Benavidez.
Ramos (20-0,16 KOs) hopes to embellish his credentials at junior-middleweight against Spanish veteran Sergio Garcia (34-2, 14 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout on the pay-per-view portion of the Showtime telecast of Crawford-Spence.
It’s a fight that could put Ramos in position to challenge Tim Tszyu or unified junior-middleweight champion Jermell Charlo.
“With a victory, I believe I could get into the top five, or at least the top 10,’’ the 22-year-old Ramos said Thursday during a virtual news conference.
Ramos, who is coming off a seventh-round stoppage of Joey Spencer on the undercard of Benavidez’ decision over Caleb Plant on March 25, says each fight is a lesson plan.
“I’m doing things at my own pace,’’ he said. “Each fight is an opportunity for me to learn something. Seeing different styles is the perfect way for me. It’ll help prepare me for whenever my moment comes.’’
