Spence's X-Factor: Will the Recent Inactivity Matter?
Presuming the fight actually comes off in late July, Spence will have fought three times in the preceding four years—including none in the last 15 months—thanks to myriad injuries as well as the aforementioned starts and stops associated with the Crawford showdown.
He's 33 years old. He's had eye surgery. He's been in a serious car wreck.
To be fair, sitting on the sidelines for 15 months wasn't an issue prior to a wide defeat of Danny Garcia in December 2020, and spending 16 more months away didn't cause decisive problems before a 10th-round stoppage of Yordenis Ugás in April 2022.
But Crawford isn't Garcia or Ugás.
He's likely to ask far more of Spence than either of those foes did, and whether the Texan still has the answers on the highest level is among the few mysteries about his game.
Crawford's X-Factor: Can He Be a Successful Smaller Man?
Crawford has been an elite commodity in several weight classes.
He won titles at 135 and 140 pounds before graduating to welterweight with the defeat of Horn, who'd beaten Manny Pacquiao less than a year earlier, in 2018.
And at 5'8" with a 74-inch reach, he's hardly a small fry at 147 pounds.
But Spence is taller and naturally larger, having competed at 152 pounds in the 2012 Olympics, and Porter said his single-shot power is more damaging than Crawford's.
Crawford hasn't fought anyone who blends size and skill like Spence, and it will be telling to see how he handles blows from a guy who's been rumored to rehydrate to 160 or even beyond by the time the opening bell sounds.
