If you were to ask an Errol Spence fan to identify his strengths as a boxer, it might be difficult for them to answer.
Spence is a talented athlete with the ability to hurt any opponent but he is not as fast as Gary Russell Jr or as strong as Gervonta Davis. So, what allowed him to remain undefeated and climb the pound-for-pound list?
His in-ring acumen, according to coach Derrick James, who will be in Spence’s corner when he faces Yordenis Ugas in a pay-per-view title unification match taking place on Sunday. Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
“His thinking ability, his ability to think quickly, his ability to create scripts and his ability to use capital,” James said when he was asked what made Spence so successful (27- 0.21 KOs). “It’s all mental, how his brain works with his physical, how he can be in the right place at the right time or not where someone else wants him to be.
“…A lot of people think he’s boring. They don’t see it because it’s so subtle, the little movements, the things he does. What you can’t see is it’s mental.”
What about the physical part?
One question for Spence since his horrific car crash in October 2019 and his detached retina last year has been whether he is the boxer who has beaten the likes of Kell Brook. , Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter before the crash or not.
James said, “Yes, he looks great in my opinion,” but then he implied that Spence might not need to be 100 percent fit. It returned to his mind.
“Even though you’re asking me about him physically, I would say mentally he’s stronger,” James said. “Because even if physically, there are things he can’t do, he won’t show it. All are spiritual. … If there’s something wrong with him, you won’t see it.
“He will try to get through it mentally so as not to show what could make him sick.”
Spence, 32, also seems more focused than ever.
Accidents and trauma made it clear to him that everything he worked for, everything he had, could disappear in an instant. He no longer took anything for granted, which affected his discipline.
For example, he has the bad habit of throwing hot air balloons to the size of a cruiser between battles. That is not the case now. Spence has only fought once since the accident – a unanimous-determined victory over Danny Garcia in December 2020 – but he’s been exercising year-round and changing his diet for the better.
James believes that will allow Spence to be at his physical peak – whatever that is – when he steps into the ring to fight Ugas. His mind will take care of the rest.
“Floyd Mayweather used to have a year or two without a fight but his timing is always very clear because he has been training for six months,” James said. “… That’s the real boxing maxim: You’re a boxer all the time, you train to fight for a few months.
“You focus on getting better, on finding all the twists and turns and everything else so that on fight night, you see something perfect, you see something great.”
