WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford made the statement he needed to, defeating Shawn Porter by 10th-round TKO.
Porter has since confirmed his retirement, Crawford has proven himself against elite competition and yet one question still remains.
Will Crawford and fellow welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. finally agree to the blockbuster bout the boxing world has been waiting for?
The answer appears to be an emphatic yes.
Crawford, who was on the final fight of his deal with Top Rank, confirmed post-fight that his he would not be renewing his contract.
“I’m pretty sure my decision is made already,” he said.
“Bob couldn’t secure me the Spence fight when I was with him, so how is he going to secure me the Spence fight when I’m not with him? I’m moving forward with my career now.”
PBC, who Spence and fellow champion Yordenis Ugas fight under, is the likeliest option to secure the Spence fight.
A tweet from Fox Sports PBC after the Crawford-Porter showdown suggested as much, posting a graphic of Crawford and Spence fighting in a ring.
It was also retweeted by Spence, who was in attendance for Crawford’s victory.
“He was at my fight?” a confused Crawford said when informed of Spence’s attendance.
“That boy said he wasn’t gonna never be at my fights, and now he’s at my fights. You see what I did compared to what he did.”
Crawford is of course referencing Spence’s split decision victory over Porter in 2019, comparing his TKO-victory to that of his rival.
“Who’s number one in the welterweight division now?” he added.
“I’ve been calling him out all day. Maybe I’ll go up to 154. Maybe if Spence gets his tail out of his butt, he’ll fight me.”
ESPN’s Max Kellerman certainly thinks it will happen, declaring Crawford needs to make sure it does for his legacy in the welterweight division.
“Crawford now has enough buzz and enough star power that you cannot credibly call yourself the man in the welterweight division unless you fight him,” he said.
“I think people are also getting the sense that fight might be worth the money.”
Commentator Bernardo Osuna, meanwhile, called it a fight the boxing world “needs to happen”.
“The fact Spence was here suggests we may get the fight,” he said.
“Crawford now has enough buzz and enough star power that you cannot credibly call yourself the man in the welterweight division unless you fight him,” he said.
“I think people are also getting the sense that fight might be worth the money.”
Commentator Bernardo Osuna, meanwhile, called it a fight the boxing world “needs to happen”.
“The fact Spence was here suggests we may get the fight,” he said.
