Mike Tyson tossed a coin, watched it spin, hit the earth then, after a pause, grinned, “it’s heads, baby”.
Then from there?
Well, things got a little crazy.
Now only two days out from one their Las Vegas superfight, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jnr have traded barbs in an explosive press conference punctuated all expletives, warring coaches, even ‘Bud’ telling somebody in the crowd “you a b****, n****er”.
Early on in proceedings, it had been the same Crawford who urged members of both warring parties to stop talking about threats of shooting and violence — warning “things can get deadly real quick” — before then promising himself to take a belt to his rival, who he said would be “seeing three of me” in the ring.
BOXING | SUN JULY 30: Unified WBC, WBA and IBF Welterweight World Champion Errol “The Truth’’ Spence Jr. will take on WBO 147-pound world champion Terence “Bud’’ Crawford for the Undisputed Welterweight World Championship. ORDER ON MAIN EVENT ON KAYO SPORTS >
Awkward coin flip causes weak Tyson toss | 01:35
Spence, meanwhile, clapped back at the belt line, along with plenty of others, while also promising to live up to one of his various nicknames – think The Truth, Big Fish, Man Down, even Gravedigger— by burying his rival “in the dirt”.
To which, Crawford too, had a reply.
“You ain’t putting nobody in the dirt,” he deadpanned.
Which was just a snippet in this prelude to a pair of men fighting for the title of undisputed welterweight king.
Asked by the press conference mediator about continuing his impressive run of seven straight knockouts since moving to welterweight, Crawford started by saying he would be looking for the win, not the finish.
“But if he get outta line,” added the man who holds the WBO strap after a short pause, “he’ll be the next one down”.
“I been getting outta line my whole life,” grinned Spence, who had on the table before him the IBF, WBA and WBC gold. “So you gunna have to do what you have to do.”
“I’m about to take my belt off then,” Crawford fired.
“You’re gunna need more than a belt,” Spence shot back. “I ain’t one of your kids.”
To which his rival simply smiled and said: “I’m gunna treat you like one.”
Elsewhere, it was Crawford who also won the right to either walk out first on fight night, or be introduced last, after correctly calling heads before that Iron Mike coin toss which opened proceedings.
An event where Crawford, in particular, also took several shots at members of his rivals in the crowd, saying to somebody late: “You a b…. n…er, you a b… n…er.
“You doing all that talking n…er. Always talking, you talking too much n…er.”
At one point, even the warring coaches went to war.
When Team Crawford head coach Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre was asked by the compare what a win would say about him as a trainer, rival Derrick James couldn’t help himself.
“It’s says he got three other people (helping),” he cackled.
None of which impressed Bomac.
“It’s funny y’all because ain’t no more hiding,” he said. “You can’t hide no more Derrick.”
“Hidin’?” James replied, before taking aim at his rival’s famed physical frame. “The only thing been hidin’ is your Big Macs, Cheetohs … that’s the only thing been hiding.”
“Remember something,” McIntyre said, going again.
“Tell me what I got to remember,” the Team Spence boss retorted.
‘MARK MY WORDS’: Tszyu targets Spence Jr in plan to become ‘face of boxing’
“Remember we been here before,” he said, referencing the fact Crawford was also once undisputed super lightweight king.
“You trying to get here.
“I can tell you how it is to be undisputed. We can tell you.
“You can’t tell us s…, so sit back and watch.”
“Listen,” James said, keen for one more crack. “They got to make a new weight for you. Super heavyweight.
“All that s… you talking don’t mean anything.
“I can point my guns at you, you can point your guns at me. But at the end of the day them two got to get in the ring.”
“Alright then,” Bomac said, “so shut the f… up.”
“Yes ma’am,” came the reply.
Elsewhere, Spence thanked his parents for gifting him resiliency, thanked his fans for the support and then said “we’re going to have a crawfish boil … boil his ass”.
He also suggested Sunday’s fight would be “iconic”, and up there with those of the legendary Four Kings of boxing – Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Elsewhere, Big Fish also took a shot at the host for asking “bogus questions” and seemed surprised when told how he had once told our man, as an amateur, that he wanted to become undisputed welterweight king.
“I don’t remember telling you that,” he shrugged. “My goal was to get the money, especially in the amateurs.”
BOXING | SUN JULY 30: Unified WBC, WBA and IBF Welterweight World Champion Errol “The Truth’’ Spence Jr. will take on WBO 147-pound world champion Terence “Bud’’ Crawford for the Undisputed Welterweight World Championship. ORDER ON MAIN EVENT ON KAYO SPORTS >
Crawford, meanwhile, promised to prove himself the sport’s No.1.
“Everything about Terence Crawford is better than Errol Spence Jnr,” he said.
“When you look at everything I do in the ring, it’s better.
“And come fight night I’ll be proving every one of the doubters wrong and (showing) Terence Crawford is the best fighter in the world.
“Not taking any credit away from Errol, he’s good at what he do.
“But when you compare him to Terence Crawford, there’s no comparison.
“This is my era.
“I never had a close fight. Never had a fight where people thought I lost, a fight that I didn’t look spectacular in.
“It’s been the Terence Crawford era since Floyd Maywether retired. Him and Andre Ward.”
Later, he added of Spence: “He got the fundamentals, the durability, the size.
“He’s the Big Bad Wolf.
“But come fight time, he’s going to have to show it.”
And Spence?
“This is gunna be legendary s…,” he said.
“Iconic s…
“People are gunna talk about this fight 30, 40 years from now.”
And on that, even Iron Mike appeared to agree.
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