Errol Spence vs. Leonard Bundu – results

By Boxing News - 08/21/2016 - Comments

Image: Errol Spence vs. Leonard Bundu - results

By Jim Dower: Undefeated #2 IBF welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) put himself in position for a world title shot by stopping #6 IBF Leonard Bundu (33-2-2, 12 KOs) in the 6th round on Sunday afternoon in their IBF 147lb title eliminator fight at the Ford Amphitheater in Coney Island, New York.

Spence knocked the 41-year-old Bundu down twice in round six. the fight was halted after the second knockdown. The fight was stopped at 2:06 of the 6th round. The referee said the first knockdown of the 6th wasn’t a knockdown, but it was clearly a knockdown. It was a left uppercut from Spence that caused Bundu to go down. It wasn’t a push.
(Photo credit: Ryan Greene/Premier Boxing Champions)

With this victory, Spence is now the mandatory challenger to IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook.

In the first knockdown of the 6th round, Spence landed a huge left uppercut to the head of Bundu in the 6th round that sent him down. Moments later, Spence landed a hard left hook followed by a right hook to the head of Bundu to knock him down for the second and final time in the round. Bundu went down on his back and was badly hurt and unable to get back up. Bundu’s fight leg was folded under him while he was falling down from the second knockdown.
“I was never hurt but I was confused,” Spence said. “Just his herky-jerky style and how he jumps in and out.”

It took a little while longer than usual for Spence to figure out Bundu and knock him out. This wasn’t the same Spence that we’d seen in his other fights as a pro where he would go after his opponents from round one looking to KO them.

Spence appeared to hurt Bundu in the 4th round when he nailed him with a big left uppercut to the head that caused Bundu to lose his mouthpiece. The referee gave Bundu a huge break by choosing to stop the action immediately and have Bundu’s mouthpiece put back in. The time that went into the mouthpiece timeout might have saved Bundu from being knocked out in that round, because he was clearly hurt. Thankfully, this incident didn’t change the course of the fight other than prolonging the punishment that Bundu took.

After the fight, Spence said, “I was going for the knockout. It took me a little while to get in gear.”

When asked about him fighting Kell Brook, Spence said, “Come on, he can fight out of the Triple G fight and fight me. I want a shot at Kell Brook as soon as he’s finished with Triple G.”

In knocking out Bundu in the 6th round, Spence improved upon the performance that Keith “One Time” Thurman did in beating Bundu two years ago by a 12 round unanimous decision in 2014. Thurman was forced to box Bundu for the full 12 rounds after taking some hard shots from him earlier in the fight. Spence wasn’t worried about getting hit by Bundu, because he wanted to knock him out and show the difference between him and Thurman. It was a very good performance by Spence.

It was a miracle that Bundu got up from the first knockdown from Spence in the 6th. That shot was like an uppercut from a young George Foreman. Bundu was bent forward and took the uppercut full force on the chin. Something had to give and it was Bundu, who fell over like he was shot by a cannon.

The referee somehow missed the knockdown and ruled that it wasn’t a knockdown. It was clearly a knockdown. It’s unclear whether the referee was looking out in the audience at the time of the knockdown or what. He missed it big time. The second knockdown shot from Spence left no question. The referee couldn’t blow that call because it was final. Bundu was down and was not going to get back to his feet no matter how long the referee counted. He could have counted to 100 and Bundu would have still been on his back, wondering what hit him.

After the fight, Bundu claimed that he was hit harder by the punches from Keith Thurman two years ago. Thurman’s punches didn’t knock him down though. Spences did. I got the impression that Bundu wasn’t feeling like giving Spence credit after the fight for beating him. Why else would he talk about Thurman’s punches being more powerful. The results are what are important. If Thurman wasn’t able to knock Bundu down, then you have to conclude that Spence is the better puncher. From what I saw of the Bundu vs. Thurman fight, Thurman was on his bike after tasting some leather in round two. Spence took some shots from Bundu, but didn’t run from him like Thurman did. Further, Spence wasn’t booed nonstop from the fifth round on the way Thurman was against Bundu.

Spence motioned after the knockdown that he was ready to have the IBF welterweight title placed around his waist. Spence wants his now mandatory title shot against IBF champion Kell Brook. If the British fighter isn’t willing to give him the title, then the IBF will need to strip Brook of his title so that Spence can fight for it against whoever the IBF decides to put him in with.

We don’t know if Brook is going to be the same fighter when he gets done with his fight against Gennady GGG Golovkin. Brook might take such a bad beating that he won’t be the same fighter when he does come back down to 147. If Golovkin knocks Brook senseless on September 10, he might not be able come back that loss as the same fighter. Spence could have easy pickings against Brook if he makes it back down from 147.

“He’s as complete a fighter as there is,” said Spence’s promoter Lou DiBella. “He doesn’t have any weaknesses. Bundu is a tough guy and he’s never been stopped and look what Spence did to him.”

The only weakness that I could see from Spence’s game was he was too slow in going after Bundu. Spence should have started bombing Bundu from round one when it was clear that the 41-year-old fighter didn’t have enough punching power to both him.