Terence Crawford labels Error Spence Jr a ‘nobody’ as the pair face off at New York press conference

Terence Crawford‘s labeled Errol Spence Jr. a ‘nobody’ ahead of their blockbuster Vegas showdown in July, with light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez showing up at the fight’s press conference in New York, days after announcing his retirement.

Both boxers are undefeated – Spence is 28-0 with 22 knockouts and Crawford is 38-0 with 29 KOs. Spence holds the IBF, WBC and WBA belts, and Crawford is the WBO champion.

Both will face off at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 29.

‘I’ve been preparing my whole life for this moment, right here, ‘ Crawford said in front of reporters at the Palladium Times Square on Wednesday. ‘Moments like these, they don’t come often and this is my time. This is the Terence Crawford era. There ain’t no holding me back. Not Errol, not Derek. Nobody’s stopping me from accomplishing what I want to accomplish on July 29th. 

‘[…] I can assure you, I can promise that y’all are gonna walk away and y’all are gonna say ‘that kid is special.’ Y’all gonna mark me as one of the greatest of all time, right along with the Floyd’s, the Ali’s, the Frazier’s, and y’all can sit there and say ‘oh well you ain’t fought nobody.’ And my reply to that is ‘I guess Errol is just another nobody that I fought.’ Peace.’

Errol Spence Jr. (L) and Terrence Crawford (R) got right in each others face in NYC, Wednesday

Spence Jr, for his part, said that Crawford’s ‘not going to break,’ nor is he ‘definitely going to break,’ adding that somebody will have to eventually ‘break’ on fight night.

‘And we need all of y’all to support us,’ added the 33-year-old. ‘I mean we got to show these people in suits, we got to show other fighters that there is a reward in taking risk. […] I’m just grateful of being here, very blessed for this opportunity to be the first welterweight undisputed champion of the world and to fight a great fighter like Terrance Crawford.

‘I’m ready to put on a great show and a great performance and show people how great I am. And show people why I’ll be one of the best welterweights ever of all time. I’m telling you, you don’t want to miss this fight. This is gonna be a great fight. 

‘I’m going to put on a great show and I’m gonna show everybody why we’re breaking people. Make sure you’re tuned in July 29th. It’s gonna be another man down and this is strap season time.’

Both boxers proceeded to get into an intense back-and-forth after Crawford was asked to elaborate on how he’ll be ‘gutting the big fish’ — one of Spence’s ring names.

More to follow…