By: Hans Themistode
After a nearly two-year absence from the sidelines, Errol Spence Jr has delivered a reminder to the world of boxing that he truly is the best boxer the welterweight division has to offer.
Last Saturday night, April 16, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Spence Jr. defeated former endurance champion, Yordenis Ugas. Despite being shaken in both the fourth and sixth rounds, Spence Jr regained his composure in the second half of their session.
Ugas’ reign as world champion began to slip from his hands in the seventh round when Spence Jr landed with a short cut inside. The force of the blow immediately closed the left eye of the Cuban product. Round after round, Spence Jr knocked Ugas down with gunshots before targeting his injured eye, forcing a medic in the ring to step on his apron and demand a halt to their competition. .
However, even though Spence Jr currently holds three of the four major world titles at 147 pounds, former two-time champion Shawn Porter is unwilling to let Spence Jr become the top dog in the welterweight division. That distinction was, in his opinion, given to a certain boxer he shared the ring with from Omaha, Nebraska.
“The best weightlifter right now has to be Terence Crawford,” Porter said in an interview with Brian Custer on the Last Stand Podcast. “There are only certain things that I have seen, felt, felt, all nine things. He’s just slightly better than anyone I’ve been with. ”
Known for his willingness to enter the ring with anyone and everyone when he was an active fighter, Porter pushed both Spence Jr and Crawford to their physical limits in both 2019 and 2021. .
At times, Porter’s rough and rough style forced Spence Jr into a gunfight before ultimately losing. Against Crawford, Porter’s rough tactics were less effective. While he has experienced moments of success, the two-times £147th champion collapsed under his elder’s strength, losing in the 10th inning.
It was the small intricacies of their approach to combat him that Porter remembered more than anything.
“Entering the ring, Errol was prepared to beat me in my match. Terence was prepared to beat me in his match. ”
With the boxing world calling for the two to go head-to-head in the ring, Spence Jr repeatedly called out Crawford’s name after his win over Ugas, something Omaha’s product, Nebraska, openly welcomed.
While the showdown between Crawford and Spence Jr is stylistically pleasing to fans, throughout the history of the sport of pugilistics there have been plenty of thrilling matches that have turned into mediocre chess matches. . In this particular match, however, Porter believes we will witness one of the more memorable matches in recent memory.
“Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence will be a blast. I can guarantee that. Errol enjoys being a commander and commander in chief. He loves to control the ring, loves to do what he loves to do. Against me, he chose to try and beat me at my own game. Terence, ‘I’m coming to the ring, here’s what I’m going to do, stop me.’ Two people say stop me, you can’t beat that. ”
