The undisputed welterweight championship required concessions from both of its participants to become a reality. (photo by Ryan Hafey)

But perhaps one fighter deserves a bit more credit than the other.

Newly crowned undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford stated in a recent interview that his ballyhooed fight with Errol Spence Jr. would not have happened if it were not for the latter’s initiative.

Crawford, Omaha, Nebraska, cemented his case as the world’s finest fighter last weekend at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, when he stopped Spence, Desoto, Texas, in the ninth round to unify all four belts in the 147-pound division.

The two could be headed for a rematch later this month if Spence decides to activate his rematch clause. In that event, Crawford would be able to decided whether or not the rematch takes place at 147 or at 154, which is Spence’s preference.

“I have to (take the rematch if Spence calls for it),” Crawford said in an interview with Hot 97. “He gave me the opportunity. Without Errol giving me the opportunity and us coming together and him agreeing to certain. Terms and me agreeing to certain terms, y’all wouldn’t have witnessed history or greatness Saturday. 

“It’s only right that I give him the credit that he deserve. He’s right, he told me at the weigh-in, ’You ain’t gotta thank me for making this sh!t happen.’ I told him, ‘You ain’t gotta thank me either. We’re about to make history.’ A lot of people were asking me what did you mean by that.

“To be honest, if it wasn’t for Errol this fight wouldn’t have happened. That’s what he mean by ‘I don’t have to thank him,’ because he played a big part in this fight happening because he stood on what he wanted to accomplish. And everything that it was going to take for us to fight, he stood on it and he put his pride to the side. I put my pride to the side. There was things that he felt as if I was getting over with but he still let it go because we need to go and there were things I felt I didn’t need to agree to but I agreed to it because we both knew the magnitude of the fight.”

Crawford maintained that while both he and Spence lowered their demands on certain issues during their negotiations, he nevertheless feels that more credit needs to go Spence. Unlike Crawford, who has a free agent going into the fight, Spence has been backed by influential advisor Al Haymon throughout his career, and it was Haymon’s company, Premier Boxing Champions, that put together the pay-per-view fight, in conjunction with Showtime. Indeed, after Spence and Crawford failed to come to terms last year, Spence was rumored to be in talks to face fellow PBC stablemate Keith Thurman in a fight was to take place earlier this year. But Spence reneged on that option, preferring to see through a fight with Crawford.

“That’s why I said it was both of us (that deserve credit for fight coming together), but at the same time, all the cards was in Errol’s hands and he could’ve said ‘No, I’m not giving into anything. I’m fighting Keith Thurman,'" Crawford explained. “Yeah, I gotta give him the utmost respect. I  gotta pay homage to a person that came together. We made one of the biggest fights in this century.”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.