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By Chris Williams: Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) says that even if he’s only at 50% capacity, only half of what he once was after his car crash & eye injury, he’d still beat the majority of the top guys in the 147-lb division.
Spence is so far ahead of everyone at welterweight that he can afford to lose a percentage of his game and still dominate.
Errol is like a power pitcher with a 100 mph fastball, who, after arm injuries, still dominates with a 93 mph fastball. IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence is getting ready to take on WBA champion Yordenis Ugas on April 16th at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Errol needs to fight to his strengths
Spence, 32, needs a strong showing against Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) to show that he still belongs at the top at 147, as he’s not been overly impressive in his last three fights against Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, and Mikey Garcia.
Errol’s last emphatic victory came in June 2018 when he destroyed Carlos Ocampo in the first round. It’s not that Spence has aged or lost something from his game since that fight.
You can pin why Spence hasn’t looked sensational because he decided to fight to his last three opponent’s strengths instead of using his power game to run them over like he’d been doing.
Spence chose to box Mikey Garcia in March 2019 to show the boxing world that he could outbox the former four-division world champion, and he accomplished that goal.
But by doing so, Spence allowed Mikey to survive the 12 round distance against him, which was unthinkable doing into the contest. Letting the much smaller, chubby-looking Mikey go the distance was a victory for him, making Spence look bad despite winning a one-sided decision.
When Spence fought Shawn Porter, who was coming off a gift 12 round split decision over Ugas in 2019, Errol chose to fight on the inside to play to his opponents’ strengths.
That was a foolish mistake on Spence’s part because he could have boxed Porter’s head off from the outside the way Ugas did and won every round.
Spence gave away many rounds by fighting Porter on the inside, where he is at his best and barely won a 12 round split decision. If not for Errol’s 11th round knockdown of Porter, he might have lost the fight.
Fighting Porter’s game was a wrong-headed move on Spence’s part, and although he proved to be a better inside fighter than him, the fight was closer than it would have been.
You can argue strongly that Ugas beat Porter in a better fashion than Errol did, but he was robbed.
“Even half of me would beat most of these guys at the top level,” said Spence in keeping it 100. “I feel great now, and I’m 100%. Physically I’m on point.”
Chris Williams thinks the only one in the welterweight division that would give Spence problems right now and possibly beat him is Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. That guy is dangerous, powerful, accurate, and young. If Spence plays around against Ennis, he’ll lose for sure.
Boots Ennis might be too good for Spence, even if he’s 100%, because he has a mix of the counter-punching ability of Terence Crawford but with the power of Spence. If Spence is going to lose anybody, it will be Ennis.
Crawford can’t beat Spence or Ennis in my book. Terence hasn’t fought anyone since moving up to 147 in 2018 and looked mediocre against Amir Khan, Porter, Kell Brook, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
There will be many shocked boxing fans after Spence trounces Crawford, but Chris Williams will be here saying, ‘I told you so.’
Top Rank has done an excellent job of creating the illusion of Crawford being a great fighter with their expert matchmaking, but he’s not what he seems. That’s fool’s gold in Chris Williams’ view, and the sooner Spence exposes Crawford as glittery iron pyrite, the better.
Errol wants to make a statement
“If Ugas’ trainer (Ismael Salas) thinks I’m a different fighter now, we’ll see in two and half weeks how different I am,” said Spence.
“I have everything in my arsenal. Whatever Ugas brings to the table, I’m ready for it. I’m going to dictate the pace and control everything. I’m making him fight my fight.
“I thought the way that fight went was more because of Pacquiao being a shell of himself,” said Spence in minimizing Ugas’ win over the shot 42-year-old Pacquiao.
“I’m going to send my message with my performance. When I have three belts, everyone is going to know what that means,” said Spence.
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