By Jeff Aronow: Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman isn’t happy about whoever posted leaked video of Errol Spence Jr’s recent sparring for preparation for his August 21st fight against Manny Pacquiao. With that said, Thurman noted that Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) didn’t look good, sparring a fighter that Keith refers to as “Pacquiao Junior” and having problems.
Thurman says Spence will need to fight at a higher level against the 42-year-old Pacquiao next month than what we saw in his last fight against Danny Garcia last December.
According to Thurman, Spence was only “70%” of what he once was for the fight with Danny. Incidentally, that was Spence’s first fight back from his terrible car crash in October 2019.
Like Thurman, fans don’t know if Spence will ever be able to come fully back from that car crash, which shredded his expensive Ferrari Spyder to bits of crumpled metal and aluminum.
Thurman feels that a rematch between him and Pacquiao would have attracted more interest from boxing fans than what he witnessed recently during the Pacquiao-Spence kickoff press conference.
Thurman says Pacquiao & Spence lacked enthusiasm during the kick-off press conference
“Ellerbe was giving me big props on the Pacquiao fight,” said Keith Thurman to Fighthype. “He thinks the Thurman-Pacquiao rematch seems more interesting than this Spence-Pacquiao fight.
“We know the kind of action we’re going to see because we saw it already. It just seems really big. I was at the presser and Spence didn’t give much to the media, and Pacquiao didn’t give much.
“They might as well have been shaking hands around a campfire singing to each other,” said Thurman in pointing out the lack of energy, excitement, and charisma between Spence and Pacquiao at their kick-off press conference.
“There was a lot of build-up to that fight and it was a tremendous fight,” Thurman said about his fight with Pacquiao in 2019.
“You can try and make another great fight, but it takes two great fighters to make a great fight.
“You don’t know how a fighter is going to come and perform. I just think deep down, I wish I had pressed more for it, the rematch. I don’t think Pacquiao would have taken it,” said Thurman about doubting Pacquiao would have considered fighting him again.
It shouldn’t be a shock that Pacquiao and Spence were less than entertaining during their kickoff press conference. This is how the two have always been, and they’re not going to become outgoing fighters outside of the ring suddenly.
During much of Pacquiao’s career, his trainer Freddie Roach was the guy that did all the trash-talking
. But with Roach now in his early 60s, he’s not as energetic as he once was and cannot carry the load of producing soundbites for the fans and media.
Pacquiao spotted weakness with Spence
“I think they saw something in Errol’s comeback fight that made them think this is the next match for Pacquiao,” Thurman said. “We saw Errol at not at 100%, we can all just say that,” said Thurman about Spence’s recent post-car crash fight against Danny Garcia last December.
“70 [percent],” Thurman said at what percent Spence looked against Danny. “Whatever he’s at, he’s not at 100.
“Does he have enough time to add onto where he just was. If he’s at 70, does he have enough time to add another 10% in this next performance where he’s at 80.
“If he’s at 80, does he have that 10% where he’s at 90 or does he complete the whole gap and he’s right back at 100? Only time will tell.
“His training camp is very important to him right now. Their game plan. They’re very strategic, and we just have to see what happens in his performance.
“I’ll be there [for Pacquiao vs. Spence]. and I’ll be commentating and I’ll be looking forward to a great fight. I think both fighters have the ability to win.
“It’s just a matter of who lands the right punch at the right time. I believe that what Pacquiao got against me.
“He landed the right punches at the right time with a knockdown in the first round and a body shot in the later rounds and he [Pacquiao] was able to close out with that victory in the end,” said Thurman.
Many boxing fans believe that Pacquiao and his team spotted a weakness in Spence’s game from last December against Danny Garcia. Spence looked very average in that fight, and he was hit quite often by Danny.
Sure, Spence took the shots well, but it was alarming how often Garcia put hands on him. A quicker fighter like Pacquiao would have given Spence many problems that night and might have beaten him.
Thurman talks about Spence leaked video
“It popped into my feed. It was too juicy not to click it,” said Thurman about the leaked sparring of Errol Spence in which he was getting worked over by a Pacquiao-clone sparring partner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOKK8EQ1t5s
“It was too juicy with the title and the way they said, ‘Y’all not supposed to see this. Watch this now before they make me pull it down. Come on, baby.’
“I bet they pulled it down. They should have pulled it down. Anybody who seen it, we know what we saw,” said Thurman when asked if Spence looked good in the sparring.
“We know what we saw. We’re talking Errol Spence and his sparring partner, little Pacquiao Jr. Little Pacquiao Jr was jumping in and putting hands on him and that didn’t look good to the people, especially me who is rooting for Errol to take out the old [Pacquiao] for the new.
“I’m still team young buck. You can ‘f-Keith Thurman,’ you can say whatever. I’m in your corner with this one, alright? I’m in your corner, pimp,” said Thurman in sending a personal message to Spence.
“I still think you and me is a great fight for the future. I think it’s an undeniably great fight. I love the Pacquiao fight.
“What I don’t like is the rumors that they’re about to make him the president of the Philippines, and he’s practically done.
“I can’t hate on him. If he was to take the fight, take the win and be out. But because of that, it doesn’t sit right for me, and I want EJ [Errol Spence] to win the fight.
“But seeing on how he let his sparring partner jump in on him, get on the inside, put three pieces together, that’s Pacquiao’s specialty.
“That’s exactly where he excels at and that’s what he wants,” said Thurman on Errol’s leaked video.
What condition was Spence in during leaked sparring?
“The only thing about the leaked sparring is that we don’t know what that day was like for Errol,” said Thurman. “We don’t know if he did bag work before that round.
“We don’t know if there was another sparring partner before that sparring partner. We don’t know which round we were witnessing, whether it was the ninth, the sixth, the fourth.
“There’s so much we don’t know about the leaked information. I take it as some form of information, but not everything, right?
“What if he [Spence] did heavy strength work the day before. I did heavy strength work before my sparring work today.
“I didn’t feel 100 today. I felt like I had to push myself to let my hands go, and you have days like that in the gym in preparation for fights.
“Not every day is going to be your best day. I still expect Errol Spence to come prepared to trade punches against the legendary Pacquiao, and I still think he has the power and the pop from the history of his amateur career and that Olympic background that he should be able to handle himself inside that ring. So we’ll see,” said ‘One Time’ Thurman.
Likely, Spence had already been working out hard before he sparred during the leaked video. The guy that Spence is sparring with, you can tell that he would wipe him out in a real fight.
It’s a fighter that’s not in his class, which it’s pointless for Pacquiao’s fans to get excited at watching it, believing their fighter will win.
Undoubtedly, Spence will make adjustments during the course of his fight with Pacquiao and deal with whatever tactics he brings to the ring on August 21st.
Thurman is in favor of pulling leaked video
“You take it down because of the privacy of the camp,” said Thurman about YouTube videos being pulled because of leaked sparring or other controversial stuff that is posted.
“A little bit of information got leaked, and those who saw it saw it. Pacquiao’s team got to witness it, which they probably did or somebody from the gym got to witness it.
“If I witnessed it on the random, then probably a decent amount of people in the industry witnessed it and word is going to spread.
“Pacquiao doesn’t give a damn about that. He’s going to do what he’s going to do anyway. He and Freddie Roach have a good game plan.
“They’re training hard in preparation for the fight. But take it [leaked video] down because you don’t want to let somebody constantly study the same footage over and over again when it should have been private.
“Deep down, whoever filmed that in that gym should never be allowed to walk back into that gym. That person should be fully kicked out of that gym.
“It was very disrespectful to Errol Spence in the privacy of his camp in the preparation for one of the biggest fights of his career, so I am fully in favor of taking it down,” said Thurman.
The leaked video of Spence’s sparring likely won’t benefit Pacquiao in any way because like Thurman says, the Filipino star is going to fight the way he always does.
It’s not as if Pacquiao is going to study the video endlessly the way some fighters would, looking to gain a small edge by looking at a flaw in Spence’s game.