I'll merk that boy

— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) July 12, 2015

By Dan Ambrose: #8 WBA welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs) didn’t appear to be too impressed with the performance from WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) with his eight round TKO win over one of the relics from the past in Luis Collazo (36-7, 19 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida.

Thurman got the victory on a cut retirement of Collazo after the 7th. But Thurman’s win came at a huge price with him getting badly exposed by Collazo.

Spence Jr. had this to say about Thurman on his social media site: “He starting to run again. I’ll merk that boy. Good fight. [expletive] fight though.”

As you can see, Spence Jr. didn’t appear to be too impressed with what he saw from Thurman, who has been dismissive about him recently ever since Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe asked Thurman to fight Spence on his next undercard on September 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thurman flat out said no to the idea of fighting Spence, saying that he wants to fight actual contenders in the top 15. Interestingly enough, Thurman’s opponent in tonight’s fight, Luis Collazo, isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies. Spence is ranked No.8 by the WBA, so it looks like Thurman isn’t aware what Collazo and Spence’s current rankings are. If he was aware, it would undermine his whole excuse for why he can’t fight Spence.

I’m sure there are a lot of fighters that saw Thurman’s fight tonight against Collazo and feel they have an excellent chance of beating Thurman. He does not seem to be able to handle fighting in the pocket, and he doesn’t react well in getting hit anyway, whether to the head or the body. Thurman gets hurt when he’s nailed.

Unlike Collazo, Spence is a really big puncher with either hand. He’s able to take you out with a body shot or a head shot. If Thurman had been fighting Spence tonight rather than Collazo, I think it would have ended badly for Thurman with him possibly getting knocked out. If you thought Thurman was running tonight under the pressure from Collazo, it would be really interesting to see how much movement Thurman would use in a fight against Spence. I would like to see Thurman willing to go down with the ship by standing and trading with Spence for as long as the fight lasts, but I just don’t think Thurman would be willing to fight a puncher like Spence like that.