boxing fan and will be watching

to it! My son got to hang out with Bud last year, and is hoping for him to win. I really like and respect both men, and think it may come down to the best of three fights. However, Spence is outgrowing the division ..... he has a big frame for a welterweight, and cutting weight gets old. I expect he'll likely move up in weight after this.

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Let's just hope it's not a close fight that is tarnished by a controversial judges' decision. There's too much of that in boxing!

No questionable decision, no bad calls by the referee, no purposeful fould, and no cuts from head butts.

I keep going back and forth on who will win. I slightly favor Bud. But very slightly.

the consensus seems to be if Crawford can keep to the outside and box smartly, he should be able to pull it off. But if he gets drawn inside and winds up in a brawl with Spence as the fight progresses, that would very likely be bad news for Bud. So we'll see if he sticks with the game plan or if Spence can use his physicality to overwhelm him and throw off his strategy.

body-puncher. That could be a huge factor. But then again, Bud is a great body puncher, which is also a factor. Like you say, ring geography and distance will most likely determine the outcome. It could go to a decision ..... but it could end either way in a round or two. It's not often that there is a fight this even on paper.

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not that I'm counting down!

There are a number of interesting things on youtube that I've been watching. I'm not sure if there is another 23 hour's worth, though!

That was amazing. I kind of favored By, but not by much, and I never thought it would be so one-sided. And great respect for Spence. Not so much his corner -- they should have stopped it, at very least between rounds at the end. That type of punishment isn't good.

Nobody had even put Spence on the canvas before and Crawford did it three times before earning the stoppage!

The stats from the fight were lopsided too, as you would expect:

DAMN ... no wonder all these guys kept avoiding Bud over the years. Yes they did. Rematch at 154 lbs won't make a difference. Master performance by Crawford tonight. I too was 'kinda shocked' it was so one sided. Props to both men for stepping up.

As Teddy Atlas has said, there is something extra with Bud, something special with his intensity. I've lost no respect gor Spence, but I have for his corner. At the last press conference, it seemed like his trainer thought this was all about him. After the second round, I said to my sons that he wasn't being helpful. And it got worse. You shouldn't let your fighter risk career-ending damage like he did.

Bud's jab was like a piston. It was hurting Spence, and knocking him off balance. And off balance is no way to be when Bud is throwing very hard shots behind that jab. His accuracy was intense. Just watching Spence's legs even a few rounds earlier, I could see he was being allowed to take too much punishment. Respect for his brave attempts to fight on.

What's next for Bud? Probably Charlo ... 3rd division Undisputed. Think Bud called him out tonight. Think Charlo is up against Canello sometime in Sept though? Should be a great couple of months the second half of the year for boxing. Fun stuff.

He's moving up a couple of weight classes to take on Canelo (and take home the megabucks that go with it). If he beats Alvarez, then the appeal is definitely there, as are the belts to give Crawford the three division undisputed champion status that add to his legacy.

But what if Canelo stops Charlo or makes him look bad? It doesn't preclude a fight with Crawford but it loses some luster even though it would be a loss at super middleweight.

I don't care about a rematch with Spence either. That fight last night was so one-sided that it's not desirable to do it again.

But the prospects at welterweight are few. Maybe Boots Ennis?

Crawford turns 36 in September. He's got little time left on the clock, despite looking absolutely amazing last night. I hope he thrives, no matter who his next opponent is.

If I were his manager, I'd get some more experience, rather than fighting Bud at this point. And it's not that Ennis wouldn't have a chance at winning if they fought now. But I'd wait, because he'd have a better chance in the future, with more experience and Bud aging. Of course, Boots would want the fight as soon as possible -- that is a young lion's nature.

I respect Charlo. (I feel bad for his brother's having issues that are sideling his career.) But I anticipate Canelo hurting him, and taking him out in the second half of their fight. While Canelo is beginning on the downside of his career, he is on a very distinct level from Charlo. In fact, as Spence moves up, I'd think he could beat Charlo -- if the extreme punishment he took last night hasn't damaged him. He hadn't been active, and hadn't had to cut that weight in some time. Not to say that was the reason he lost, but he didn't have legs under him after the second round. I told my boys that the way Bud's piston-like jab made Spence lose his footing early on suggested that he had weakened himself making weight. Of course, I'm not a fan for cutting weight ..... fight at your strongest weight. Just my opinion.

weight cutting can be grueling. It can take away a fighter's gas tank and make them more susceptible to getting KO'd. That's surely why Spence is pushing for the rematch at 154.

I take your point about Boots. He just turned 26 and could use a couple more years of seasoning and then get Crawford at 37 or 38. If that opportunity still exists by then. If not, there will be another formidable foe waiting in the wings. That's how the game has always worked.

I find Boots extremely impressive. Just an intense talent. But objectively speaking, he still has a few things he needs to work on. Like every fighter -- even the greatest champions -- he does make some mistakes. Now, going into the fight last night, it seemed to me that Bud made some more than Spence. In previous fights, there were times he threw some punches a bit wide. I know that one could hold he did this to draw offense from his opponent, in order to fire counter-punches. That's valid. But he has gotten clipped a few times, for example by Gamboa, a crafty, fast fighter of very high quality. Spence didn't make as many mistakes, largely because he almost exclusively did his A game. Yet there was little evidence he could adjust.

Last night, Crawford's accuracy was unreal. More, he not only took advantage of Spence's error of staying directly in front of him, he punched through Spence's combinations with beautiful short, straight punches. Spence anticipated being the stronger man. But Bud seemed more powerful when they were tied up, partly because his center of balance was a little lower, and largely because he is much stronger than Spence thought.

Spence's trainer failed him by not having a B game. I'm not saying it would have, or even could have, changed the outcome. For there have been very, very few fighters that I've ever seen that could shift their tactics mid-round in the way Crawdord can. And you really can't teach that.

At this point, I think Bud would not only exploit the errors Boots sometimes makes -- and I'm not suggesting there are many -- but he would force him to make more. Bud is used to performing on the Big Stage. Boots hasn't been there yet. He needs to build up on that type of experience.