By Brian Webber: Commentator Al Bernstein has serious doubts about whether IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr intends on defending against Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman next.
Bernstein can’t put his finger on it, but he feels that there’s something about Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) that is making Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) reluctant to pull the trigger on that fight, even though it’s the second biggest money match-up in the 147-lb division behind a Terence Crawford clash.
When a fighter chooses not to take a fight that would make them fabulously rich, it tells you something about them and what’s going on mentally.
It’s possible that Spence doesn’t think he can beat Thurman. So to avoid defeat, Spence chooses not to face him, adding Thurman to the list of undesirable opponents like the young lions Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergio Ortiz Jr.
Perhaps Spence doesn’t think he can beat Thurman, or he may see it as an even more grueling affair than his last contest against Yordenis Ugas last April. In that fight, Spence was badly hurt at one point and was fortunate that Ugas didn’t finish him off after he staggered him.
“That’s a fight that people want to see, and a lot of people thought that would be the fallback fight for Spence, but my sense of it is, I just don’t know that Errol Spence is rushing to fight Keith Thurman,” said commentator Al Bernstein to Fighthype.
It’s clear that Spence doesn’t want any of that smoke from Thurman because this is the former king of the welterweight division, who arguably is still close to the level he was when he ruled the weight class with an iron fist five years ago.
On paper, Thurman is a bad style match-up for Spence because he’s highly skilled, has excellent power, and he sets traps that Errol will walk into with his straight-ahead style of fighting.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with running away from him. I just think there’s something going on there that he just isn’t keen on. I don’t know that he wants to give Thurman the opportunity for that title.
“I don’t know that for sure, but that’s my feeling, I think so,” said Bernstein about Spence giving Thurman payback for him having ignored him
