By Dan Ambrose: Errol Spence Jr. (20-0, 17 KOs) wants to beat #6 IBF Leonard Bundu (33-1-2, 12 KOs) in a more emphatic fashion in their IBF welterweight eliminator bout on August 21 than how Keith Thurman beat Bundu in December 2014. Thurman beat Bundu by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 120-107, 120-107 and 120-107.
Thurman knocked Bundu down in round one, and then spent the remainder of the fight choosing to box him using a hit and run style rather than looking to torpedo him the way that Spence will surely be doing on August 21 at the Ford Amphitheater in Coney Island, New York.
Spence, 26, will very likely accomplish his goal of doing a better job of beating Bundu than Thurman, because Spence is more like Gennady “GGG” Golovkin with his fighting style than Thurman. Spence wants to entertain his boxing fans by making his fights into drama shows so that he wins over his fans. He’s not the type to use a hit and run style that we saw from Thurman against Bundu. The boxing fans at ringside for the Thurman vs. Bundu fight were booing Thurman from the early point in the fight because he was running too much and not using his size and punching power advantage to try and obliterate Bundu.
“I think I’ll win in better fashion,” Spence said. “Keith Thurman, he was more running around the ring and pot-shotting. With me, I’m looking forward to a spectacular performance (where) I walk him down and go for the knockout. Hopefully I get the knockout. If it comes, I’m definitely going to take it. Hopefully I have a performance like I did with Chris Algieri.”
It’s nice for boxing fans that Spence will be looking to win in an impressive fashion rather than looking to play it safe for 12 rounds like we saw with Thurman against Bundu. That was a truly sad sight to see with the bigger, stronger and much younger Thurman running from Bundu for 12 rounds. It looked funny and it took away from the whole fight.
Thurman had this to say after the fight with Bundu: “This is the sport of boxing. I pick how I want to fight. Only some of them are booing. The rest of them are cheering.”
The fans began to boo even louder after Thurman made this above comment when being interviewed on the public speaker at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Spence, 26, is taking the smart approach in trying to do the best he can in each fight rather than taking the safety first approach to fights like we saw from Thurman against Bundu. The fastest way to the top in the sport of boxing is to try and fight as hard as possible like Gennady Golovkin to make fights exciting for fans.
Doing just the minimum to win fights puts fans to sleep and makes them not want to see you fight again. Spence wants to become a pay-per-view fighter, and the best way to accomplish that goal is to set yourself apart from other fighters.
Spence (20-0, 27 knockouts) destroyed Algieri, a former titleholder, knocking him down three times and stopping him in the fifth round this past April at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Thurman recently won an exciting decision against Shawn Porter to defend his WBA welterweight title. Spence follows the sport closely and admitted he tries to outdo his peers every time he fights a similar opponent.
“That’s been the motive, to outdo (the other welterweights),” Spence said. “That’s the ultimate goal. It makes you look better when a Manny Pacquiao, a Keith Thurman, a Amir Khan fought this guy and you fight him. You want to look better than they did and put on a better performance. That’s definitely a motive when you’re fighting a similar opponent.”
Spence could be the guy that replaces Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the top fighter in the welterweight division. The best way to do that is to create knockouts each time out to show the boxing fans that you’re the best.
It’s good news when the sport has fighters like Spence, who are willing to do their very best to make exciting fights rather than just looking to run around the ring, sticking their tongues out to stall out a fight like we saw recently with Terence Crawford in his fight against Viktor Postol in the 12th round.