By Dan Ambrose: #10 IBF, #10 WBC, #10 WBO, #11 WBA welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. (19-0, 16 KOs) has been selected by the Premier Boxing Champions organization as their ‘Rising Star of the Year’ for 2015 for his four impressive wins over Samuel Vargas, Phil Lo Greco, Chris Van Heerden an Alejandro Barrera.
Spence, 25, was not considered for the ‘Fighter of the Year’ by PBC, because that honor went to WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman for his two wins over Robert Guerrero and Luis Collazo.
It would have been nice though if Spence’s adviser Al Haymon had let him get a crack at Thurman in order to test his chin and his ability to take body shots. 34-year-old Collazo almost dropped Thurman in their fight last July with a body shot.
Ready for 2016 💯💯 #OnlyTheBeginning #MANDOWN #TeamTruth pic.twitter.com/M86QCuwHb2
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) December 20, 2015
In Spence’s last fight, he defeated a very tough Alejandro Barrera by a 5th round knockout last November in an IBF welterweight title eliminator. Barrera gave a good fight of it, but he was no match for the raw punching power of Spence. Barrera was knocked down twice in the 5th round.
“If I get what I want, I’ll be fighting Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook and Chris Algieri. All those tough fighters,” Spence said to Premier Boxing Champions on NBC.
Spence is supposed to be fighting in a final IBF eliminator in 2016 against an opponent still to be determined. It will have to be from one of these fighters: Fredrick Lawson, Konstantin Ponomarev, Amir Khan, Rico Muller, Sadam Ali, Jeff Horn, Shawn Porter, Dimitri Mikhailenko of Frankie Gavin.
Spence, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, wants to get a crack at one of the welterweight world champions. With him being positioned to go after IBF 147lb champ Kell Brook, it’s possible we could see that fight take place in 2017 if Spence wins the IBF mandatory sport, and if he can keep winning. Brook may or may not be the IBF champion by the time that Spence finally gets a shot at the title, but that is not important. Spence just wants to win a world title against whoever has the belts, and then go from there in defending them.
Earlier this year, Floyd Mayweather Jr. offered to vacate one of his two welterweight titles if Keith Thurman would agree to fight Spence for the vacant belts. Thurman chose not to take Mayweather up on the offer to fight Spence. Indeed, Thurman even seemed to get upset at Mayweather telling him whom to fight.
Mayweather only made the offer because he thought it would be a goo fight and he thought Spence would win it. Thurman probably wasn’t too happy that Mayweather had already picked out a guy to replace him as the WBA welterweight title. A fight between Thurman and Spence could happen if their adviser Al Haymon wanted it to, but he is moving them in different paths.
Rather than Haymon match Thurman and Spence together in a title fight, Spence is targeting IBF belt holder Kell Brook. If Spence wins that title, then two of Haymon’s fighters will hold down world titles at 147 in Thurman and Spence. Three of Haymon’s other fighters, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter are looking to grab the vacant WBC welterweight title.
“A lot of guys feed off the fame or what people say about them; it’s kind of like a drug, but I don’t care about that,” Spence said via premierboxingchampions.com. “All I want to do is perform and look great every time I fight. I hear what people say, but I’m not going to take it to heart. I’ve still got a job to do. I think I’m a contender. I’m ready.”
There is no question that Spence is a contender at 147 right now. He’s not only a contender, but arguably the best fighter in the division already. I believe Spence will beat any of the existing champions. Kell Brook would be an easy fight for Spence because he tends to go right at his opponents.
As far as Spence’s next fight, it would be nice to see him matched against one of Top Rank’s top fighters. I’d like to see Spence take on WBO 140lb champion Terence Crawford. I think that would be a good fight to see how Spence handles a lighter fighter than himself. I’d also like to see Spence fight guys like Viktor Postol, Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, Shawn Porter or Tim Bradley. Those fights aren’t realistic at this point. Spence will be matched against the highest ranked contender that is willing to fight him in the IBF eliminator bout.
Comments are closed.