He might come off as a bit quiet and unassuming but Errol Spence Jr. has always kept tabs on his competition, most notably, Terence Crawford.
Well before the Omaha, Nebraska, native made the move to the welterweight division, Spence has paid close attention to the smooth switch-hitter. With the now 35-year-old filling both his hands with every major world title at 140 pounds in 2017, he officially made the 147-pound move one year later.
Swapping fists against bigger men has been a relative breeze for Crawford as he’s gone on to stop every foe since moving up in weight. But while he’s proud of his violent handiwork, those aforementioned victories would pale in comparison come July 29th.
On the night, the two will finally placate the wishes of boxing fans and square off in the center of the ring. Up until this point, Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) has been viewed as one of the betting world’s favorite selections. However, this time around, oddsmakers believe he’s bit off more than he can chew.
The dubious voices that now surround him, nevertheless, have only added to Spence’s fire. Although it’s been a while since he was last seen, the Dallas native pounded Yordenis Ugas to the tune of a 10th-round stoppage victory in April of 2022.
As the current unified champion hurls hard shot after hard shot at the heavy bag, he pays no attention to the profuse amount of sweat that falls off his body. Considering that Crawford has failed to have a close fight throughout his career, Spence is well-aware that putting in extra work might be needed.
Before inking his name on the dotted line, and shortly after, Spence acknowledged that Crawford is a unique talent and a future Hall of Famer.
Those superlative words, however, won’t stop the unified champion from carrying out his game plan and doing his best to pull out the victory.
“He has great talent, great skills,” said Spence on ESPN’s First Take. “But I feel like my ability and my will and my all-around just being the better fighter, I’m gonna beat him.”