Errol Spence Jr. will be looking to reinvent himself at 154 this year when he challenges Sebastian Fundora for his WBC and WBO Junior middleweight titles in November. The fight still hasn’t been negotiated, but it’s being mentioned to be going down in November.
The former unified welterweight champion Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) has his weight down, so his training camp won’t be a fat farm like in his two previous fights against Terence Crawford and Yordenis Ugas.
There were rumors that Spence started camp weighing 180 to 190 lb, making it a physical ordeal to reach 147.
Spence is now moving up to 154, which should make his life easier, making weight for the Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) fight. Errol has looked skeletal at the weigh-ins for his last five fights at welterweight against these fighters:
– Terence Crawford
– Yordenis Ugas
– Danny Garcia
– Shawn Porter
– Mikey Garcia
If Spence doesn’t kill himself, making weight at 154, we could see him back at vintage form before he ran into a rough patch in his last two fights. Spence should have gotten a hint that he needed to move up in weight after his fight against Ugas because he didn’t perform well in that match and struggled against a fighter who was later dominated by Mario Barrios.
Spence looked sluggish against Ugas and was hurt during the fight. He had to tough it out to win a 12-round decision, but it was not the Spence fans had known from 2012 to 2018.
A full-powered Spence can dominate the 6’6″ Fundora, likely knocking him out within six rounds to capture his WBC & WBO 154-lb titles. Spence can pick who he wants to fight in the division with those belts.
An obvious choice would be Vergil Ortiz Jr. He’s been sounding a little uppity lately, talking about wanting to fight Spence at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. That would be an excellent fight for Errol and bring in a crowd.
It wouldn’t be a good idea for Spence to invest energy into trying to rematch Crawford because he’s set on getting a retirement payday against Canelo Alvarez at 168. It appears His Excellency Turki Alalshikh will be indulging him by putting up the funds to make this fight happen.
Without Alalshikh, the Canelo-Crawford fight won’t happen because Canelo has no interest in fighting Crawford. It’s a no-win situation where he’ll get dumped on regardless of how the fight ends. If that fight doesn’t happen, Spence should ask Crawford for the rematch.
Spence gave Crawford a helping hand with his career last year by blessing him for the fight to make him a superstar. It’s only fair that Crawford repays him. Spence didn’t have to fight him, but he did and Crawford owes him one.
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