Jeff Mayweather wants Errol Spence Jr. to take some tune-ups against someone who is a pushover rather than jumping straight back into the fire after his loss to Terence Crawford last July.
Spence, 34, hasn’t fought since Crawford knocked him out in the ninth round. The former IBF, WBA, and WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) is training and looks in better shape than before the Crawford fight.
Spence hasn’t said who he wants to fight when he does return to action, but it’s believed he’ll be fighting at 154 when he does get back in the ring.
Going up to junior middleweight is a good move for Spence because he’d been draining himself to fight at 147 for his last three fights, and he’d looked terrible at the weigh-ins, like Crypt Keeper.
Rebuilding Confidence
“I know Errol really well, and he’s a great guy. I just don’t know how he’s going to come back from that fight,” Jeff Mayweather told Jai McAllister about whether Errol Spence Jr. can come back from his loss to Terence Crawford.
The psychological impact of Spence’s loss to Crawford was perhaps more damaging to him than the punishment he took in that one-sided fight, and Jeff wants him to get back to how he was feeling before he suffered that defeat.
Spence looked like pure gold in 2018 before he started his habit of putting on weight in between fights from eating and enjoying the money he’d made.
If Spence can stay in shape year-round by being active and fighting three times a year, he stands a better chance of recovering from the loss. That might be difficult for Spence because he likes to eat and doesn’t seem motivated to stay in shape as the more dedicated fighters do.
“Sometimes guys can come back from fights like that. I can attest to that,” said Jeff. “With Spence, I think he needs to take some easy fights first to find out where he’s at rather than jump right back in the fire with Crawford or Tim [Tszyu] right now.”
For Spence to be open to Jeff’s advice of taking tune-up fights, he would need to take a big pay cut for the kind of money he’d gotten accustomed to getting when he was fighting big names.
Testing the Waters at 154
If Spence wants to get as much cash for every fight, he’ll reject the notion of taking a tune-up and jump in with a top-level fighter at 154 in a sink-or-swim fashion.
“I just think he doesn’t need that,” Jeff continued about Spence. “I just think he needs to get back to feeling the way he was before he got that loss. I don’t care. Even if he’s fighting a guy that is a real pushover, he needs a win to keep him motivated.”
