Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford will finally face off in a fight that is around a half-decade in the making.

Their date with undisputed welterweight championship destiny will arrive July 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and headline a Premier Boxing Champions card on Showtime pay-per-view.

For the longest time, Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) and Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) couldn’t come to terms because the purses they were seeking for their mouthwatering bout didn’t match the paying public’s demand.

To complicate matters even more, there was a yearslong cross-company clash that seemingly always had the fight at a negotiations stalemate. Spence has been tied with Al Haymon’s PBC his entire career while Crawford was linked to Bob Arum’s Top Rank until November 2021. Crawford has been a free agent ever since splitting from Arum. Both companies have done business together on rare occasions. 

Spence opened up about the sense of relief he has now that his super fight with Crawford crossed the contractual finish line. 

“It feels great [for the fight to finally happen]. It's been a grueling negotiation. We finally got it done,” Spence told a group of reporters. “I had to sit out [over a] year. People have been wanting this fight to happen for five, six years. It's finally happening. It feels great just to get through these tough obstacles and all of the demands he wanted.”

The WBC, WBA, and IBF champion Spence has not fought since taking the title away from former champion Yordenis Ugas in a 10th-round technical knockout victory in April 2022. 

Spence and Crawford came as close as ever to agreeing to fight late last year but the switch-hitting Crawford changed his position and instead moved forward with fighting against David Avanesyan and viciously knocked out the contender. 

Spence is eager to work off what eventually will be a 16-month break from the ring when he fights Crawford. 

“I'm in the process of getting ready right now. It's been a great training camp so far,” said Spence. “I am in awesome shape physically and mentally. I'm ready to go, and ready to put on a great show.” 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.