Terence Crawford had just knocked out David Avanesyan in spectacular fashion in front of his hometown Omaha, Nebraska fans toward a career-best purse of a reported $10 million.
The victory Saturday night gave the WBO world welterweight champion his sixth straight title defense and 10th consecutive win by knockout.
Yet, Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) knew the question about clashing with unified welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. was coming and when it did, the 35-year-old expressed hope that the mega bout can be made in 2023.
"Listen, I’m a free agent, this was a one-fight deal," Crawford began saying inside the ring regarding his win on BLK Prime pay-per-view. "Hopefully we can go [back] to the drawing board and these big fights come about in the near future."
Unbeknownst to Crawford at the time was that Spence was involved in a car accident earlier in the day but that the unified champion walked away from the damage.
Crawford did become aware of that news during his post-fight press conference and responded by wishing Spence well.
"I wish him well. I hope he’s alright — mentally, physically and emotionally," he added. "Like I said before, he's got a family he gotta feed. This is just a sport. We’re all fighting for that number one spot, so it ain’t personal. It's just business."