By Jim Calfa: Errol Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) took a career’s worth of punishment in his loss to Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) and looked like the shell of the fighter he’d been six years ago when he won his first world title at age 27 in 2017.
Many boxing fans on social media believe it would be an unwise move on Spence’s part to exercise the rematch clause in the contract to fight Crawford again in any weight class, not just 147.
The diminished hand speed and porous defense of the 33-year-old Spence would make him an easy target for Crawford’s punches in the rematch.
Should Errol Spence retire?
If Spence chooses not to rematch Terence, it’s still going to be awfully tough for him to turn things around because he’s planning on moving up to 154, and those guys hit harder than Crawford.
It might be better for Spence to hang up his gloves now rather than put himself through another bad beating from Crawford. Spence is a millionaire with more than enough money to retire and live the rest of his life in luxury.
If you thought it was bad for Spence to get nailed by Crawford’s shots, just wait to you see what Tim Tszyu & Brian Mendoza would do to him.
The lack of hand speed & poor defensive skills for Spence would mean that his fights would be all grueling affairs, similar to his contest last year against Yordenis Ugas.
The main difference is the fighters at 154 punch harder than Ugas, and they would be lighting Spence up like a Christmas tree with their heavy shots.
That’s just two of the hard hitters at 154 with the type of power to do a number on Spence. There are also these hard hitters that could finish Spence:
– Erickson Lubin
– Jesus Ramos
– Bakhram Murtazaliev
– Charles Conwell
– Xander Zayas
Spence took a bad beating
“First of all, he’s established himself as the best fighter on the planet at this particular moment in time. He’s number one, 40-0, 32 knockouts absolutely spectacular performance,” said Stephen A. Smith on First Take, reacting to Terence Crawford’s win over Errol Spence Jr.
“My heart goes out to Errol Spence Jr. Anybody that knows Errol Spence Jr, he’s an incredibly nice guy, a beautiful heart, the whole bit, and a warrior and was undefeated coming into this fight, but he was completely and thoroughly outclassed in such an alarming fashion.
“It was a bona fide epic a** whipping that he received, and after that kind of beat down, you’ve got to wonder whether or not he should consider hanging it up. It was that bad. Having said all of that, that is clearly not the case with Terence Crawford.”
Considering that Spence has lost hand speed and is moving up to 154, his chances of success in that environment are remote.
It would be harsh for Spence to excel in that weight class because his defenses are nonexistent, and those fighters have massive power. Can Spence do well at 154? He can do well if he’s matched carefully and steered around the dangerous opposition.
At the same time, Spence will be punished in every fight because he doesn’t have the speed to score fast knockouts.
“Terence Crawford, if you saw during one of the knockdowns when he dropped Errol Spence, he turned away and went to the corner and turned away, and turned his back and was talking to somebody in the crowd,” said Smith. “The person he was talking to was Jermell Charlo, who is the undisputed junior middleweight champion at 154.
“If a rematch with Errol Spence Jr. didn’t happen and Errol Spence Jr has the right to demand a rematch and according to the clause, Crawford would be the one that picks the weight, and Errol Spence said he doesn’t want to fight at 147 anymore because it was too difficult to meet that weight.
“He’d rather fight at 154, and Crawford indicated he’d have no problem with that. So the likelihood is that they’re going to rematch with each other, but the person that Crawford was talking to was one of Errol Spence’s best friends, and to put it in the context of perspective.
“The Charlo twins, the brother that’s a middleweight champion [Jermall], his little brother [Jermell] that’s the Junior middleweight champion.”
Crawford has other options
“Okay, they’re so tight with Errol Spence that they’ve made it clear years ago they would never fight one another because that’s how close they are as brothers and friends, and so obviously Charlo was rooting for Errol Spence and thinking that Errol Spence was going to beat him, and when he got his butt whipped right in front of Charlo, Terence Crawford was turning to Charlo, like, ‘You next. I want you too,'” said Smith.
“So obviously, that’s what’s next for him, assuming the rematch doesn’t happen. There’s a guy by the name of Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Ladies and gentlemen, this brother is elite. He is 31-0 with 28 knockouts. He can fight. He is special.
“He’s so special, in fact, I’m nervous at the thought that Errol Spence, instead of fighting Crawford, might end up fighting him because I think, with the beating he took, that Ennis would probably beat Errol Spence as well because of the damage that Terence Crawford inflicted [on him].
“Either way you slice it, of course, Crawford could fight Ennis, but he’s got his eyes on [Jermell] Charlo because Charlo, the Charlo Brothers, ain’t scared of anybody. They talk a lot.
.@stephenasmith believes #SpenceCrawford should be Errol's last fight 👀 pic.twitter.com/o031YLbQto
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) July 31, 2023
“They have backed it up because the one loss on Jermell Charlo, he’s 35 1-1, but the one loss on his record was Tony Harrison, and I thought he should have won that fight. He should actually be 36-0 and 1.
“That’s my personal opinion. His brother [Jermall] is like 36-0 [correction: 32-0], but that’s who Crawford has his sight set on. [Correction: Crawford has his sights set on Jermell (35-1-1), not Jermall (32-0)].
“It’ll be Charlo, and that will be a match we all want to see, but Charlo is fighting Canelo [Alvarez on September 30th] because his big brother has had some issues to resolve on the personal side, and the little brother stepped in to move up two weight classes to fight Canelo.
“I’m nervous about that one because you can’t be undersized going against Canelo, who’s coming down from light heavyweight. Teddy Atlas said it best. He’s got that third eye, his instincts. It’s not just his abilities but his instincts.
“He sees things clearer and quicker than everyone. He fights, and he’s got the power in both hands and the speed Crawford is special,” said Smith.
