Errol Spence Jr. is stepping out of the shadows and back into the ring after taking a three-year hiatus following his first professional loss against Terence Crawford in 2023.
Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
STAFFORD, Texas — Errol Spence Jr. left boxing with unanswered questions.
Spence, a DeSoto native, wanted to find peace in his life after the sport he loved left him mentally and physically battered. His lifestyle — drinking and driving fast cars — also put his physical well-being at risk.
It’s been three years, but Spence said he’s found peace and a renewed love for the sport.
Article continues below this ad
Spence is scheduled to fight against Tim Tszyu on Saturday in a 12-round, 154-pound middleweight fight in Sydney, Australia. Tszyu (27-3, 18 knockouts) is one of the most talented fighters in boxing.
Spence aims to remind Tszyu of where he used to be.
On July 29, 2023, Spence was undefeated going into a major bout against Terence Crawford. The lead-up and the result of that fight raised questions about Spence’s fitness and preparation. Even now, the answers remain murky.
Errol Spence Jr. sits in his corner during the undisputed welterweight championship boxing match against Terence Crawford, Saturday, July 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
John Locher/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mysterious injury
Spence calls himself The Shark in the boxing ring because he’s in search of the big fish. Going into the Crawford fight, he had compiled an undefeated record (28-0, 22 knockouts) as he dominated the welterweight division.
Article continues below this ad
He was one of the top fighters, not only from the Dallas-Fort Worth area but in the sport overall.
That night in Las Vegas, Crawford destroyed Spence.
The undefeated Crawford, from Omaha, Neb., knocked down Spence three times before the fight was stopped by TKO in the ninth round. All three judges saw the one-sided fight for Crawford at the time of the stoppage, scoring it 79-70.
Spence looked as if he were in a daze. He wasn’t a Shark. He looked more like a guppie against one of the top fighters in the sport.
After that victory, Crawford moved up in weight, fighting twice before retiring after a dominating victory over Canelo Alvarez in September 2025.
Article continues below this ad
The loss sent him into self-reflection. He called it retirement.
“For sure, that’s why I don’t take nothing back,” Spence said in late June after a day of training. “Everything I went through, basically, I had to look into myself to find peace, find gratitude, find happiness and I feel like I found that. I’m happy. I’m living life. I’m not scared to retire because I know I’ll be OK. That was the worry when I was [to] leave boxing. What was I going to do? That was my whole identity.”
Spence’s father, Errol Sr., attended the fight against Crawford. When asked how stunned he was to see his son get beaten so badly, he didn’t answer for 15 seconds before saying, “I don’t have any opinion.”
When asked again specifically about the fight, Spence Sr. said, “There’s a lot behind the scenes. I’m not going to get into it.”
Article continues below this ad
Spence Jr. offered little in an interview with The News about the events leading to the Crawford fight. However, Spence told Hall of Fame fighter Andre Ward on The Art of Ward podcast that he suffered a rib injury in training that curtailed sparring sessions.
“I didn’t spar,” Spence told Ward. “Six weeks out I got a cortisone shot in my ribs. My ribs were hurting. I got a cortisone shot. I had to get cleared for that the week of the fight.”
Derrick James, Spence’s trainer for the Crawford fight, declined to comment when asked about the injury.
Spence’s new trainer, Ronnie Shields, offered surprise when discussing the lack of sparring for the Crawford fight.
“I couldn’t believe that when I heard that,” said Shields, a former boxer. “I couldn’t believe it. But I never talked to him about that. That’s the past. I concentrate on the future [with] what we have right now. We can’t erase the past; the past is gone.”
Article continues below this ad
The past haunted Spence. He told Ward, “I was in a dark spot.”
Errol Spence, Jr. with his championship belts after defeating Danny García in a WBC & IBF World Welterweight Championship boxing match at AT&T Stadium on Saturday, December 5, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. Spence Jr. won by unanimous decision in 12 rounds. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)
Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer
Life in the fast lane
Spence was injured in a car accident in October 2019, suffering damage to his teeth and some soft tissues after flipping his Ferrari on Riverfront Boulevard near downtown Dallas.
He later pled guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated.
Article continues below this ad
Spence didn’t stop drinking or driving fast. He talks about multiple accidents in his life. He tried to move away from the party life by purchasing 60 acres of land in Red Oak, where he built a house. He loves spending time with horses and cattle. He loved boxing, too. The sport was too much to give up, so he kept fighting.
The loss to Crawford allowed Spence to look more at himself. He felt his body never fully recovered from the car accidents and partying.
He needed to get away. He stopped drinking.
Spence rediscovered his three kids (two girls and a boy) along with his parents and significant other. In the last three years, Spence said he traveled to 10 different countries to find this peace. He wanted to learn about different cultures and cities. He mentioned going to Tokyo and Saint Martin.
“It’s been three years since he’s been able to find that peace,” said his close friend, Stuart Wallace. “Just think about someone going through something traumatic, there’s going to be a time they’re going to get their thoughts together and realize everything they’ve gone through. You’re not going to stay in damn drama and traumatic situations forever, you’re going to search and find something that’s better. So, yeah, you can see it all on him. He’s quicker, he’s sharper because his mind is in a better place.”
While the injuries suffered in the car accident weren’t life-threatening, he had health issues in the ring. He suffered a detached retina while training for a fight against Manny Pacquiao that was eventually canceled. There was the rib injury going into the Crawford fight, an event Spence’s best friend Jourdan Isom says, “I don’t have to go into detail on that. A lot of guys wouldn’t have gone in there. He definitely wasn’t 100%.”
“He’s good, man,” Isom said. “Sometimes when you’re away from the sport a little bit you have the time to focus on what’s really important, and in reality boxing is cool, it’s a dope sport, there’s bravado, lifestyle is like none other. But his kids, family, all that, that’s the most important thing.”
Errol Spence Jr. works out in Stafford, Texas, with trainer Ronnie Shields in advance of his Saturday fight against Tim Tszyu in Australia.
Calvin Watkins/Staff
New identity
Once Spence decided to fight again, he looked for a new trainer. James sued Spence in Dallas County court over unpaid fees for his services. The case is closed and James and Spence declined to comment about it.
Spence’s father hired James when his son was a young fighter. The two men were always together.
“Yeah, there’s a relationship,” Spence said on the difficulty of leaving James. “It’s the way of life. People have been married for a long time and twice as long as we’ve been together and they break up. It happens that’s life.”
It led Spence to Shields. The two have known each other since Spence fought in amateur tournaments across Texas. Shields joked he could never find a boxer to beat Spence in the amateurs.
Now he’s got him in the pros. He’s got a fighter who will do something different for his fight against Tszyu. There’s an expectation Spence will use more head movement and quicker exchanges, where Spence will land punches and back out of the way.
“You have to listen to your body,” Shields said. “The body tells all. From what I’m seeing from Errol right now, he feels rejuvenated. When I see him sparring with the guys, he’s in there taking punches and punching back, I see that he’s ready, he’s ready for anybody, so that tells me the way he works I have to stop him from working. That’s how much he wants this. I’ve never over-trained a fighter in my life and I never will.”
Spence has never trained outside of Dallas for a fight. He comes to Shields’ gym about 30 minutes outside of Houston, settled in an industrial park about two blocks from the post office. He goes back to Red Oak to chill with the family on the weekends before coming back here for work.
If he loses, Spence will still have peace of mind because he doesn’t believe boxing defines him. For years, Spence thought boxing was his identity.
“I enjoyed the last three years and it made me dig deep and find stuff that I like and find an identity outside of boxing,” Spence said. “If this is my last fight then I’m OK with it because I’m OK with everything [and] how it went on and how it transpired, and I know I can live without getting into the ring ever again.”
What to know about Spence-Tszyu
What: Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 knockouts) vs. Tim Tszyu (27-3, 18 knockouts), 12 rounds, middleweights
When: The four-fight card starts at 8 p.m. Saturday (Central time)
How to watch: The PBC Pay-Per-View event will be available on Prime Video and DAZN for $79.99. A Prime subscription is not required.