Errol Spence Jr – The welterweight primed for a big 2016

By makingweight - 01/15/2016 - Comments

spenceBy Daniel Hughes: It seems 2016 will see a changing of the guard in the welterweight scene, fighters have retired like Floyd Mayweather and of course Manny Pacquiao will be set to follow him after facing Timothy Bradley once again. Time waits for no man and boxing is certainly a sport that historically fighters that retire should stay that way.

Finances and ego sometimes leads to the warriors of old lacing them back up again. The lure of PPV dollars and TV companies and promoters offering large sums, hard to turn down maybe we will see either or both fight again, don’t rule it out.

The welterweight scene has a void to fill for sure and TV will be looking for a star to step into the picture. The UK has of course Kell Brook and Amir Khan a fight that would make both millions here, but a fight that sells worldwide, frankly at this point no.

The fact both fighters want to showcase themselves as the top European welterweight, they need to face each other the winner then has a lot more to bring to the table internationally than bragging rights. The age of both in the prime of their fighting lives, surely it makes sense that it happens in 2016.

Internationally the USA has some very talented 147 lb fighters, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter in the mix whatever TV platform they fight on. The question marks about all three need to answered by facing each other. Porter came up short against Brook in a decent fight, Garcia his career has flattered to deceive after his demolition job on Amir Khan despite being unbeaten. Keith Thurman needs a big win to lay down a marker a potential fight against Porter will certainly draw interest.

The potential stars of the division in the future, you need to look deeper into the division. I have written previously about the young unbeaten Mexican Alex Saucedo, exciting fighter and a work in progress. To me 2016 will be the year he will be stepped up in quality of opponent, but I would think 2017 will be the year you will hear and see him really pushing towards the top end of the rankings. Big puncher with both hands, switches attacks body to head with effect. He has good hand speed, but will need to learn to improve his head movement coming in. He ticks the boxes of a typical, aggressive Mexican fighter worth keeping an eye out for him. Top Rank rates him very highly.

Errol Spence Jr 19-0 (16 KOs), will for me be the welterweight fighter to really stamp his mark on the world scene at 147lbs this year. He has all the tools required to become a world champion, southpaw fighter out of Texas with a fighting style that is fan friendly. If you are looking for the next potential star of the division, you may need to look no further than him. He is primed and ready to really take on any name in the division this year, he has improved every time I have seen him, especially the last 12-18 months. The opponents have got better in quality, so has his own performances, power, timing and speed to punish opponents at 26 years old Errol Spence Jr will be sure to believe that 2016 will be his break out year. I certainly think he will prove it.



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