MY LITTLE “PENCE” ON ERROL SPENCE JR. – END OF THE ROAD FOR “THE TRUTH”
Story: Dennis Moore, Boxing Writer/ Analyst/ Sports Journalist
BACKGROUND:
If you are an ardent boxing follower and an enthusiast, the household name Errol Spence Jr should never be oblivious in your pugilist thoughts.
The desire and prompt decision to scribble this piece arose from the recent fight we witnessed between Errol Spence Jr and Australian Tim Tszyu of which the former lost by a unanimous decision.
Even before the fight itself, Spence Jr was depleted in body and countenance as the camera zoomed in on him and that was where I doubted his full delivery on the night. He was very pale and quiet most of the time he was relaxing in the dressing room.
In fact I knew he would not post a win in this fight especially as Tim was on fire and consistent in the ring.
The first few rounds were obviously commanding for the Aussie as he looked solid and kept jabbing his “object” with approaching precision. Spence Jr kept holding and holding after every fling jab. The referee warned him on two occasions and even at a point his own swinging jab nearly landed him on the canvass. Alas, I knew Spence was far past his prime.
Pugilist colleague of Spence Jr, Crawford was by the ringside and didn’t look facially convincing that his nemesis would win on the night. His post- fight interview was raw- ” He was slow, but finished the fight though”. That said it all.
CARRIER FIGHTS
Errol Spence Jr, the once feared Welterweight phenom in the Boxing industry made his professional debut at the Fantasy Springs Casino in California in a scheduled 4 round bout against a 19 year old Jonathan Garcia of which the teenager got stopped in the 3rd round.
Spence Jr won all his first 10 professional fights,8 of them by way of knockout.
He rose to the ranks actually by April 2015 by defeating Samuel Vargas .He featured subsequently in the undercards of the Shawn Porter/ Adrien Broner fight on June 20 ,2015 defeating Phil Lo Greco (26-1,14KOs) via the 3rd round. He was named the 2015 ESPN.com prospect of the year.
Spence Jr would go on to fight former light welterweight titlist Chris Algieri on 16th April, 2016 at the Barclays Center, his biggest fight to date.
In front of over 7000 crowd in attendance, Spence became the first boxer to stop Algieri. After the win Spence Jr’s words were ” Kell Brook knows what time it is”.
The fight against Brook materialized after the English man’s fight with Amir Khan fell off. In front of 27,000 fans, Spence Jr dropped and eventually stopped Brook to win the IBF Welterweight title after 11 rounds. Spence Jr earned £1million and Brook a guaranteed £3million.
On his 28th birthday, “The Truth” stopped Lamont Peterson who had vacated his WBA (Regular) to challenge the former.
Spence Jr then called out Keith “one time” Thurman and “the Truth” once again dominated with a stoppage .
In 2018, Spence Jr fought Mikey Garcia ( 39-0-30KOs). Some boxing fans commended Mikey for taking up the fight due to Spence Jr’s body size. The scorecards on the night read 120-107, and 120-108 twice to give Spence a perfect 12 round shut out victory. Manny Pacquiao jumped into the ring immediately after the fight and requested to be next on schedule but that fight didn’t materialize.
In his first fight since crashing his car in October 2019, Spence Jr fought former two weight World Champion Danny Garcia on December 5th 2020. He won that fight through the unanimous decision route 116-112, 116-112, and 117-111 to retain his titles.
Manny Pacquiao’s interest to fight Spence Jr again surfaced in 2021 with the fight venue announced as the T- Mobile Arena. However Spence Jr’s injury to his retina tear on his left eye cancelled that fight.
Meanwhile hard hitting Cuban Udinis Ugas had had his successful defense of his titles against Manny Pacquiao and had petitioned the WBA for a special permit to bypass a mandatory defense against Eimantas Stanionis in order to face Spence in a title unification.
The fight would take place on February 8th 2022 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington,Texas.Ugas was stopped in brutal fashion due to his heavily swollen right eye.
Then comes in ” The Bud” Terrence Crawford, the WBO Welterweight champion with the fight agreement slated for July 29 ,2023. This would be the undisputed Welterweight titles. Spence Jr was cut to size and wouldn’t step in for the rematch.
Earlier in 2025, Errol Spence was in negotiations with WBC Super Welterweight Champion Sebastian Fundora but it was inconclusive.
Then comes in his just ended Middleweight main event last “paycheck” fight with Tim Tszyu where he lost by a unanimous decision 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111 to the Australian.
Spence has finally retired with a professional record of 28 wins, 22 KOs, and 2 losses ending a carrier that included unified WBC, IBF and WBA ( Super welterweight titles.
This retirement decision is honorable and a good call and encompasses a commitment to family and health.
Spence deteriorated 4 years ago after that car crash and the two eye surgeries which visibly had a toll on his performance. It was obvious he couldn’t have gone further to taste the venom of current prefects like Ennis, Erislandy, Sebastian Fundora, Virgil Ortiz and the likes. No way.
We congratulate Errol on this journey as he has undeniably contributed to a historic script in the sport at the age of 36 going through countless problems.
I personally will remember him for that epic fights he had with Udinis Ugas and Kell Brook.