LAS VEGAS – It took Terence Crawford some time to understand why, all of a sudden, Al Haymon was in favor of Shawn Porter fighting him.

Without naming Haymon, Crawford noted before their final press conference Wednesday at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino that the founder of Premier Boxing Champions never seemed interested in matching Porter with him when Porter held the WBC welterweight title. Eventually, Crawford concluded that Haymon and Errol Spence Jr. are essentially using Porter as their barometer to determine whether Spence will face him.

Crawford-Spence is the welterweight bout boxing fans have wanted to see more than any other over the past couple years. Crawford-Porter obviously is an attractive alternative, but Crawford isn’t sure Spence will want to fight him after the way Crawford feels he’ll beat Porter in their ESPN Pay-Per-View main event at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena ($69.99; 9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).

The 12-round bout between Crawford, 34, and Porter, who is also 34, came together in large part because the WBO made Porter the mandatory challenger for Crawford’s 147-pound championship.

“They pushed for Shawn Porter to be my mandatory, but they didn’t push for Errol Spence and me to fight,” Crawford said in reference to Haymon. “You know, being that Errol Spence is they cash cow and Shawn Porter is a fighter that, you know, fights anybody and doesn’t care who he fight and where, so they just used Shawn Porter as a pawn. ‘All right, let’s put him up against Terence Crawford and see how he fare against Terence Crawford and see if that’s the fight that we really want.’ ”

Spence beat Porter, yet that 12-round, split-decision win in September 2019 is considered the most difficult fight of Spence’s nine-year pro career.

Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, is listed by Caesars Sportsbook as a 7-1 favorite to top Porter, though the odds have become closer in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Crawford is fully focused on the aggressive, experienced, rugged Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs), a former IBF and WBC champ.

“Nah man, I ain’t even thinking about him,” Crawford said when asked about boxing Spence. “Yeah, my focus is Shawn Porter right now. I’m not worried about Errol or anybody else in the world right now.”

Crawford and Porter are friends from their amateur days, yet Crawford didn’t hesitate to accept their fight once the WBO ordered it late in July.

“My thing was when it happened, I was like, ‘OK, let’s go,’ ” Crawford recalled. “You know, I’m not gonna turn down anything. I’m not gonna back up. So, when I got word of it, it was just like, ‘Let’s go.’ My thing is why now? You know, that was my thought. When he had a belt, didn’t nobody push for us to fight, nobody was calling for us to fight. But now, you know, everybody pushing for us to fight, being that he gave Errol Spence, you know, the fight that he gave him. So, you know, I was cool wit it. And I’m still cool wit it. And this is the reason why I said I’m gonna show everybody this weekend why I’m the best fighter in the world.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.