SPORTS SHORTS 10: BRADLEY SAYS SPENCE WANTING CANELO NOT CRAWFORD IS A MONEY ISSUE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 31 Dec 2020
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WBO world welterweight champion Terence Crawford watched Canelo Alvarez defeated Callum Smith to win the WBA and WBC super middleweight world titles at the Alamodome in San Antonio. WBC and IBF world welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. was interviewed at ringside and asked regarding his prospective fight with Crawford.
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“I think it could happen. We have to see how it goes,” Spence was quoted by Boxing Scene. “(Manager) Al Haymon and (Crawford promoter) Bob Arum need to sit down, and for Bob to stop lying. We'll see. It definitely could happen next year. We just have to sit down and talk and go over the numbers and things like that.”
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Then Spence said something that really attracted Crawford’s curiosity. “I'm the big dog in the welterweight division,” Spence said. “He has to take a backseat and take that 60-40 (split) or 70-30, whatever we give him.” Right after that, Crawford tweeted his reply to Spence’s clamor for the larger proportion of the purse. “And they said it was me. I rest my case now, on to the next. That chapter is now close,” Crawford posted on social media.
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“It could happen,” said Spence Jr. as quoted by Boxing Insider about a clash with Crawford before switching his discussion to another fighter. “We gotta see how it go but I can move up to 160 and fight Canelo Alvarez.” He added that he is ready to move up. “I’m a guy that sucks down to 147. I really think that people only see 80-70% percent of me at 147 pounds. I’m a guy that’s outgrown the weight. I’m just holding around because I want to be undisputed champion at 147.”
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Former two division world champion Timothy Bradley was quoted by Boxing Scene that Spence "called for a fight, two divisions up" with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. “Why would you want to go up [in weight] to face Canelo, but not face Terence Crawford who is in the same weight division as you? This is a money issue for [Spence]. I think Spence is at a point now, and correct me if I'm wrong, where he just wants to get the money and then he wants to leave the game," said Bradley to ESPN.
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Kazuto Ioka and Kosei Tanaka will clash today December 31 at Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Ioka will defend his title for the second time, while Tanaka will try to equal his record as the only male boxers from Japan to win major titles in four separate weight divisions. Ioka became the country's first male boxer to win major titles in four weight divisions when he stopped Filipino Aston Palicte in the 10th round last June in Chiba City. The triumph came on his second try, after he lost a split decision to Donnie Nietes on 2018 New Year’s Eve in their vacant title fight in Macao, China.
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Kazuto Ioka (25-2, 14KOs), age 31, of Sakai, Japan is a four-weight world champion. He is the WBO super-flyweight champion since 2019. He was the unified WBA and WBC mini-flyweight titlist between 2011 and 2012, the WBA (Regular) light-flyweight king between 2012 and 2014, and the WBA flyweight title holder between 2015 and 2017.
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Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9KOs), age 25, from Tajimi, Gifu, Japan is a three-weight world champion, having held the WBO mini-flyweight title from 2015 to 2016; the WBO junior-flyweight title from 2016 to 2017; and the WBO flyweight title since 2018 to February 2020. When he won his first world title in only his fifth bout, he became the fastest Japanese fighter to become a world champion. Together with Vasyl Lomachenko, he is also the fastest ever fighter to win titles in three weight-classes, having accomplished the exploit in only 12 bouts.
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This fight is the opportunity for Tanaka to win belts in four divisions in 16 fights, eight faster than the present record holder Oscar De La Hoya, and would become the fifth man in history to win belts at mini-flyweight, flyweight, light-flyweight and super-flyweight, to include Venezuelan Leo Gamez, Nicaraguan Roman Gonzalez, Filipino Donnie Nietes and the most recent being his opponent, fellow Japanese Ioka.
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Before The Ring magazine gives all of its year-end awards for 2020, let us recall the awardees for 2019. The Ring year-end awards have been running since 1928 and remain the most prestigious in world boxing. Here are the winners for 2019:
FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Canelo Alvarez
FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Naoya Inoue UD 12 Nonito Donaire
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
Deontay Wilder KO 7 Luis Ortiz
TRAINER OF THE YEAR
Eddy Reynoso
UPSET OF THE YEAR
Andy Ruiz TKO 7 Anthony Joshua
COMEBACK OF THE YEAR
Jamel Herring
EVENT OF THE YEAR
Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua 2
ROUND OF THE YEAR
Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz 1 (Round 3)
PROSPECT OF THE YEAR
Vergil Ortiz Jr.
MOST INSPIRATIONAL
Jose Ramirez (KO Cancer event)
FIGHTER OF THE DECADE 2010s
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Happy Healthy and Sporty New Year to everyone from me, my wife Chona and sons Mallory, Marton and Marlon.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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