By Travis “Novel” Fleming

Errol Spence, JR., 17-0, 14 KO’s, is one of the most promising prospects in boxing, and he’s taking the necessary steps to place himself in the mix of the most talent rich division in the sport. Spence, who has been touted as the future of boxing by no less than Floyd Mayweather, JR., has been trying to take the fast track to a world title shot. He has tried to get a fight with WBA regular belt holder Keith Thurman, 26-0, 22 KO’s, only to be told by Thurman that he hasn’t earned his shot because he has yet to beat a top twenty welterweight, despite the hypocrital Thurman chasing a fight with Mayweather having never beaten a top ten welterweight.

Spence also tried making a fight with former champion Shawn Porter, 26-1, 16 KO’s, but was told to build up his name a bit more. This led to his team scouring the welterweight rankings for a fighter with a respectable ranking who would be willing to face him. It has just been reported that he has likely found his best, and highest ranked, opponent to date in South African Chris van Heerden, 21-1-1, 12 KO’s, and that the fight will be the main undercard for the September 11 PBC event on Spike TV in Toronto, Canada that features Adonis Stevenson, 26-1, 21 KO’s, in the main event making yet another pathetically weak defense of his light heavyweight championship, this time against Tommy Karpency, 25-4-1, 14 KO’s.

Chris van Heerden is certainly a step in the right direction for Spence. He is ranked #8 by the IBF, and holds the IBF international welterweight title that was previously held by current IBF champion Kell Brook. It’s interesting that Spence is attempting to climb the IBF rankings as it could mean becoming the mandatory challenger for Brook’s title. Chris van Heerden is a solid fighter who has a big experience edge over Spence, having been a professional fighter for six years longer. The 28 year old has been ranked in and around the top 25 welterweights for a few years now by various respectable publications. He is a massive welterweight at six feet tall, three inches taller than Spence, and, like Spence, he is a rangy southpaw. van Heerden has faced some heavy handed fighters without ever being knocked out, and, as far as I could research, he has never even been knocked down, so he should be one of the few fringe contenders capable of giving Spence some much needed rounds.

It would be quite a statement if Spence were able to become the first man to stop the durable South African. van Heerden’s only career loss came over five years ago via razor thin split decision to the much more experienced Nikola Stevanovic, at the time 20-1-1, 10 KO’s. Since then, van Heerden has reeled off nine straight victories against decent opposition like former world title challengers Sebastian Andres Lujan, 39-6-2, 24 KO’s, Kaizer Mabuza, 23-7-3, 15 KO’s, Matthew Hatton, 43-6-2, 17 KO’s, and Cosme Rivera, 35-17-3, 24 KO’s, as well as respectably ranked Ray Narh, 26-4, 21 KO’s, Cecil McCalla, 20-0, 7 KO’s, and Ramon Ayala, 23-3-1, 11 KO’s.

September 11 will tell us a lot about whether or not Spence is ready for the upper echelon of the welterweight division. An impressive win should be enough to legitimize him as a challenger in the eyes of Keith Thurman since van Heerden is certainly a better opponent than the faded version of Luis Collazo, 36-7, 19 KO’s, that Thurman faced in his last bout. At the very least, if Thurman still wants him to beat an even higher ranked guy before giving him a shot, an impressive win over van Heerden should lead Spence to a fight against a someone deemed worthy enough by Thurman, which could set up a Thurman fight in early 2016, and if not he’ll be just one win away from becoming the mandatory challenger for IBF champion Kell Brook. Regardless, this fight is a stepping stone to big things in the near future for Spence, should he impress.

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