(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Mayweather Promotions) By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he sparred with unbeaten #8 WBA 147 pound contender Errol Spence (16-0, 13 KOs) in the past, and he feels he’s now ready to challenge WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman in his next fight after Spence gets past junior middleweight Phil Lo Greco (26-1, 14 KOs) this Saturday night in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Spence-Lo Greco fight will be the co-feature bout on the Adrien Broner vs. Shawn Porter card on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC. Spence, 25, was originally scheduled to fight slugger Roberto Garcia, but he was heavy this week and wasn’t going to be able to make the weight, so he was switched out for Lo Greco.
It’s still a great test for Spence and will give him and his team a chance to show how talented he is.
“Well this is what happened. I call a spade a spade,” Mayweather said via Fighthype in describing what led to him sparring Errol Spence in the past. “When I was locked away, when I came out, I was still off a little while. The first guys I started sparring was a southpaw [Spence]. He was giving me good work, real good work. He pushed me. He made me get in tip top condition, and when I got in tip top condition, I was Floyd Mayweather, but he’s a hell of a fighter. We’re looking forward to his next fight. It could be a good match-up against Keith Thurman. I think that should be a championship fight. I think him and Keith Thurman should be for a title in his next fight. He’s ready.”
The southpaw Spence can do it all. He’s lightning quick with his punches, hard to hit, and very, very powerful. I can definitely see Spence beating Thurman if he does wind up facing him next like Mayweather says. He’s someone that could take away a lot of the things that Thurman does, and I think it would be a bad style match-up for Thurman, who has looked a little uneven at times in his last two fights against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and Leonard Bundu.
I’m not sure that Thurman is ready for a fighter like Spence at this point in his career. Thurman has a fight against Luis Collazo next month on July 11th. Thurman should be able to get through that fight, but hopefully he doesn’t take punishment like he did in the Guerrero fight. And hopefully Thurman doesn’t run like he did against Bundu.
Lo Greco has fought only once since losing to Shawn Porter in 2013. Earlier this year in March, Lo Greco defeated Rafael Cobos by an 8 round unanimous decision.
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