Errol Spence, JR: Time to Retire Floyd Mayweather, JR and Let the Young Guns who Excite Boxing Fans have the Spotlight

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By Travis “Novel” Fleming

Welterweight prospect Errol “The Truth” Spence, JR., 17-0, 14 KO’s, has been getting a ton of ink lately, a lot of it as a result of him being vouched for by pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather, JR., 48-0, 26 KO’s. Mayweather has taken the talented 25 year old under his wing and proclaimed him as the future of boxing. So confident is Mayweather in Spence’s ability that he has been campaigning on Spence’s behalf for fights against top welterweight contenders Keith Thurman, 25-0, 21 KO’s, and Shawn Porter, 26-1-1, 16 KO’s, while Spence has yet to fight even a top twenty welterweight. Floyd has brought Spence into his camp as sparring partner in the past, and the rumors of Spence giving Mayweather all he could handle must have some truth to it for Floyd to be heaping such praises on a young man still in the prospect stage. Mayweather has gone as far as offering to vacate one of his three welterweight titles to allow Spence to fight Thurman or Porter, if either is willing to get in the ring with the young Texan.

Has Spence earned a shot at a top contender like Thurman or Porter? Well, he hasn’t climbed the ladder in the traditional sense, and should probably beat a fringe contender like Robert Guerrerro, 33-3-1, 13 KO’s, or Andre Berto, 30-3, 23 KO’s, to create demand, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a supremely talented 25 year old deciding to say “screw it, I’m ready to take the plunge and start building a legacy”. A vote of confidence from Mayweather surely doesn’t hurt your motivation either, and as Mayweather did in his eighteenth fight against the late great Genaro Hernandez, he is hoping that Spence can capture a world title in the same number of professional bouts. I like that Spence has decided to stop dicking around with fighters that are several levels below him in talent. He is daring to be great by chasing these dangerous contenders where a win would propel him to the upper echelon of the division and label him as one of boxing’s future rulers, along with Terrence Crawford, 26-0, 18 KO’s.

Many fighters ruin their development by fighting below their level for too long before facing legitimate challenges. They pick up bad habits by getting away with things that wouldn’t fly against a top level fighter. Watching Spence, it is obvious that he’s several levels above anyone he has fought and he looks as complete, and talented, as anyone in the division. I agree with the approach Mayweather and Spence are taking, it’s time to step up and see if he can swim with the sharks before its too late. There’s no need to keep fighting at the prospect level, the majority of greats have stepped up their opposition by age 25 and with Spence’s skill set, there’s absolutely no reason he shouldn’t make the leap right now.
Hopefully Thurman, Porter or another top contender give him the opportunity. With a backing from Floyd Mayweather and one of Floyd’s welterweight titles being offered as motivation to take the fight, it seems neither Thurman nor Porter are willing to oblige. Thurman seems to feel that he is above fighting the likes of Spence, stating that Spence needs to earn his shot by beating better fighters, which is quite ironic considering Thurman himself is biding his time in hopes of landing a fight with Floyd Mayweather without having earned his shot by beating even one top ten contender.

Porter was offered a fight against Spence on the undercard of Mayweather’s September finale, but stated that he wants to be Mayweather’s opponent, not just one half of the supporting act. Porter’s claim to deserving a Mayweather fight most definitely holds more weight than Thurman’s, coming off of a dominating win over Adrien Broner, 30-2, 22 KO’s, and notching a couple notable victories against just one semi notable win for Thurman. Porter is also more likely to change his tune in accepting a bout with Spence as he is a throw back fighter who will fight anyone.
To get the fight with Broner, he even agreed to fight Adrien Broner at the lowest weight of his career, ten pounds lighter than where Porter has fought most of his pro career. If Mayweather announces a foe that isn’t Porter for September, I see Porter displaying his warrior spirit once again in accepting an undercard bout with Spence with the opportunity to win one of the welterweight titles vacated by Mayweather.

Hopefully Thurman changes his hypocrital tune or at least faces a top contender soon, instead of cruising against second tier opposition with hopes of undeservingly winning the Mayweather sweepstakes. Spence is daring to be great, it would be nice to see the same from Thurman as we could have an incredibly competitive post Mayweather era at 147 lbs. You would think that a world title and a spot on the undercard of what’s sure to be the second most viewed ppv of the year would be enticing enough.

Errol Spence appears to be the goods, and a leading candidate to be one of the best fighters of the post Mayweather vs Pacquiao era. He’s a rangy southpaw with a well rounded skill set. He has fast hands, fast reflexes, and serious crushing power for a welterweight. He knows when to attack and when to let the fight come to him to counter punch. He’s a wicked body puncher who aims to break an opponent down from the opening bell. He’s got a beautiful jab that he mixes to the head and body, a nasty left uppercut, a good straight left and a nice right hook. He picks his shots well and has top notch accuracy, throwing textbook straight punches right down the pipe.

He employs a reflex defense that might need a bit of tightening as he ages and his reflexes slow, but it should serve him well for a while being that he’s only 25. He’s a big welterweight with a 72 inch reach and could probably fight at junior middleweight right now without any problems, so there’s a high likelihood of him moving up to try and capture glory at 154 lbs if his welterweight campaign proves successful. There are question marks around how he deals with adversity and how well he takes a heavy blow as we haven’t seen either of these circumstances arise for him yet in the paid ranks.

Spence was an outstanding amateur that won various national championships and represented team USA at the 2012 London Olympics as the number one rated welterweight. He won his first two bouts before getting edged out in the quarter finals to Russian fighter Andrey Zamkovoy in a closely contested battle. He turned pro at age 22, shortly after the Olympics, and has yet to be so much as tested in 17 professional bouts with only three of his opponents hearing the final bell. He hasn’t beaten any world beaters, but has some decent scalps to his name for a rookie in the paid ranks in Samuel Vargas, at the time 20-1-1, 10 KO’s, and Ronald Cruz, at the time 20-3, 15 KO’s.
Just a few weeks ago he was featured on NBC as the main undercard for Shawn Porter’s domination of Adrien Broner, his opponent was supposed to be Mexican fringe contender Roberto Garcia, 37-3, 23 KO’s. Robert Garcia pulled out of an early 2015 fight with Shawn Porter and further damaged his reputation by doing the same to Spence which is a shame because Garcia was on a great streak and had beaten some good welterweights, so a win over Garcia would have propelled Spence to the next level where perhaps guys like Thurman would deem him worthy. Canadian tough guy Phil Lo Greco, at the time 26-1, 14 KO’s, took his place.

Lo Greco had only ever been defeated once and it was by unanimous decision courtesy of Shawn Porter. Spence made Porter’s performance look tame as he battered Lo Greco to the head and the body en route to a flawless third round TKO. This was the first major exposure for Spence and it got fans, and media alike, talking about the talented young man that was labeled as the “future” by Floyd Mayweather. On top of his vast amateur experience, Spence has been in camps with Mayweather where he was not only inspired by seeing the incredible work ethic it takes to reach the top, but actually gave Mayweather a lot of trouble in sparring, including a black eye in the build up to Mayweather’s 2013 fight against Robert Guerrero.
Being associated with the likes of Mayweather, one might assume that Spence is another trash talking, arrogant, flashy personality, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead of using his foul mouth to create hype such as Adrien Broner, Spence lets his fists do the talking. The young Texan gives off an aura that is all business, reminiscent of a young Thomas Hearns. He’s soft spoken and shy at times, but transforms into a killer that wants your heart when he steps into the squared circle. He’s got a certain scary calmness and patience about him that gives the impression that you’re watching a crafty veteran.

With backing from boxing’s most powerful man Al Haymon, Spence looks as if he’s being positioned to be a star of the Premiere Boxing Champions series. As mentioned, Mayweather’s already said he’s willing to vacate a title to allow Spence to fight either Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter. With Mayweather and Haymon behind him, if Spence really does have the goods he looks to possess, he will be on the fast track to the top of the division in no time. Let’s just hope that one of the top contenders gives him a shot to prove his worth. The time is now, and Spence is eager to swim with the sharks. Spence certainly passes the eye test, he’s a technically gifted fighter that looks better than Thurman, Porter and the rest of the welterweight contenders did at this stage of their careers, and in this writers opinion he beats them all with the exception Kell Brook who is also a very well rounded technician with power. That isn’t to say he couldn’t potentially beat Brook, but it’s too early to tell.

Fighters that show a bit of a wild side, loop their punches and have holes in their defense like Thurman and Porter would be in for a world of trouble against a straight shooter like Spence, so it’s no surprise that so far they want nothing to do with him, even with a world title and a spot on the second biggest pay per view of the year at stake. When you’re a well rounded southpaw, people aren’t exactly lining up to give you a chance to advance your career, and this might be Spence’s biggest problem going forward. If he gets his chance, there is no doubt in mind that he will be right there with Terrence Crawford as the best young champion in the sport.