By Barry Holbrook: Errol Spence Jr. says he wants to fight Saul Canelo Alvarez and he would move up to 160 to face him. Spence isn’t worried about the size and the power of Canelo, because he sees him as a short fighter that gets “tired” in his fights.
A fight between Canelo and Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) could happen sooner than people think. Spence says he’s within three fights away from being done with the 147-lb division, and moving up to 154 to campaign as a junior middleweight. Spence wants to finish unifying the welterweight division by beating the following fighters:
- Shawn Porter – WBC champ
- Manny Pacquiao – WBA belt holder
- Terence Crawford – WBO champ
Spence is facing Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) next week on PBC on Fox Sports Pay-Per-view on September 28 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Spence: Canelo gets tired, I have more wind than him
“That would be interesting, and we’ll see,” said Spence about a fight between him and Saul Canelo Alvarez. “That wouldn’t be a problem [fighting Canelo at middleweight]. Canelo’s not a big fighter. He’s got mass, but he’s not a big guy. So I think that would be a great fight,” said Spence.
“I’d like to fight him. I never just broke it down about how I’d beat Canelo. He’s got timing, and he’s got power. He punches with a lot of power, but he does get tired. So I think I have the advantage of having more wind than him. I think it would be a great fight overall. A real big fight,” said Spence.
Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) almost lost his last fight to Daniel Jacobs last May when he got tired in the second half of the fight. This wasn’t the first time that Canelo has faded late in his fights. He did the same thing in both fights against Gennady Golovkin, and against Austin Trout.
The hardest part for Spence in attempting to beat Canelo is dealing with the judges. If the judges are giving Canelo almost every round regardless of how the fight is being played out, Spence will need a knockout. It’s not going to be easy for Spence to KO Canelo, because he takes shots really well, and he makes his opponents miss. Most guys have to take power off their punches in order to land anything on Canelo. Once you do that, then you’re inviting trouble. Canelo will be landing the harder shots, and the judges love that kind of thing.
Spence’s trainer says he matches up well with Canelo
“Errol matches up great [with Canelo Alvarez],” said James. “Canelo’s a great boxer, and a great counter puncher. He’s well rounded just like Errol. I think it’s evenly matched, and it would be a great fight. He’s not as fast, but he’s very precise,” said James about Canelo.
“He has great reaction time, and it would be a great fight. The only guy that could do something like that was the guy that fought Anthony Joshua. Those are the three big names in boxing.”
Canelo will soon run out of names for him to fight, and then could look Spence’ way to setup a fight against him. He’s moving up to 175 to take on WBO champion Sergey Kovalev. Win or lose, Canelo won’t stay at light heavyweight, because there’s no one for him to fight in the weight class. Canelo will come back down to 160, and once he does, he’ll be in position for Spence to face him.
Spence confident Crawford fight happens
“That fights going to happen,” said Spence about a fight against Terence Crawford. “It’s going to happen at 147, but we’re not waiting no five or six years. After I clean out the division,” said Spence when asked when he’s moving up to junior middleweight. “Maybe next year. I may only need to fight two more times especially after I get this belt. And then get Pacquiao, and then Crawford. That would be a huge fight too.”
The Crawford fight is an easy one for Spence to make, because he and his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank boxing both want it. Spence is saying the Crawford fight for last before he makes his move up to 154.
“Terence Crawford is not a mega-star,” said James. “He’s a boxing star, but Pacquiao brings in people. Errol brings in people. Terence Crawford really isn’t that type of people. Two more years,” said James when asked how much longer before Spence moves up to 154.
“That’s kind of like when Floyd fought De La Hoya. Floyd became a mega-star,” said Spence. ‘If I make more money, I’ll be gone a lot more. You probably won’t see me a lot.’
