By Dan Ambrose: Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman diminished Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford’s recent career-best win over Errol Spence Jr. by saying that he would have wiped out that version of Errol on that night.
The way Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) looked that night, he likely would have lost to a number of top 15 welterweights and even 140-pounders.
It’s not just the performance against Crawford that suggests that Spence would lose to the likes of Thurman.
Spence’s previous fight against 35-year-old Yordenis Ugas last year already showed that something wasn’t right with him, and he wasn’t the same guy he’d been in the past.
Against Ugas, Spence looked like a classic example of a shot fighter, and the only reason he didn’t lose that fight is that the Cuban fighter isn’t an A-level guy.
What happened to Spence?
Was the two car accidents that Spence was in or a combination of being drained and worn out from his wars with Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia?
Errol went from being at the top of the world in 2018 to the faded, depleted, slow, easy-to-hit ham & eager that we saw struggle against Danny, Ugas, and Porter and then lose badly to Crawford.
“You didn’t beat up a real champion. I don’t think that version of Errol Spence would beat Shawn Porter,” said Keith Thurman to Fight Hub TV about Terence Crawford beating a depleted version of Errol Spence Jr. last July.
“Everybody knows Keith Thurman wipes that Spence. He gets wiped by many people,” said old ‘One Time’ Thurman, talking in the third person, sounding narcissistic in doing so.
That’s not taking anything away from Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) because he did what he was supposed to do by defeating Spence by a ninth round knockout. But if you’re being honest, Spence would have lost to all of these fighters last July:
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
Keith Thurman
Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Eimantas Stanionis
Subriel Matias
Gary Antuanne Russell
Teofimo Lopez
Regis Prograis
Devin Haney
Shakhram Giyasov
Roiman Villa
Rashidi Ellis
David Avanesyan
Egidijus Kavaliauskas
Shawn Porter
Arnold Barboza Jr.
Jose Ramirez
Spence will likely continue on after he loses his rematch with Crawford in December or early 2024, but once Errol gets beaten once or twice at 154 by some of the top 10 contenders, he’ll likely retire.
It would be easier for boxing fans to believe the former WBA & WBC welterweight champion Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) if he wasn’t so old & inactive with his career.
‘One Time’ Thurman hasn’t fought in ages, and he’s an interviewer-type guy, appearing to be semi-retired at 34. Who knows if Thurman will ever fight again?
