Errol Spence Jr made headlines recently when he described his training camp for the undisputed welterweight clash with Terence Crawford as \u201ctrash.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spence was comprehensively beaten by Crawford in 2023<\/a>, suffering two knockdowns before being stopped in the ninth round. The following year, he parted ways with long-time trainer Derrick James, with the pair also becoming embroiled in a two-way lawsuit.<\/p>\n Responding to Spence\u2019s comments<\/a> on The Last Stand podcast<\/a>, James appeared to acknowledge that preparations were not ideal, explaining that the gym was busier than usual while he was also overseeing training camps for Anthony Joshua and Frank Martin.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what I\u2019ll say. We weren\u2019t able to do everything that we normally do to prepare for a fight. The gym was busy at that time \u2026 so it was a different space. The whole protocol changed right after that [fight] \u2013 no kids in the gym, no this or that.<\/p>\n \u201cIf that\u2019s his perception\u2026 I had two other training camps going on at the same time. They never trained at the same time, but they were going on simultaneously. I will say that. If \u2018trash\u2019 is his perception, there\u2019s nothing I can do about it \u2026 It was never like I was training all three of them at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n James did, however, refuse to be blamed for the lack of sparring.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was [disappointing] to hear \u2026 He said he didn\u2019t spar. No, he did spar for two weeks, and supposedly he got injured within the last week of the sparring.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he couldn\u2019t spar for the next eight weeks because he suffered an injury. That\u2019s the only thing that was really different \u2013 he didn\u2019t spar because he was injured \u2026 [After the injury] his father said, no sparring, he\u2019s gonna save it till the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite their disagreement over the camp, James was quick to stress that nothing should detract from Crawford\u2019s performance on the night.<\/p>\n \u201cThis takes nothing away from what Terence Crawford did.\u201d<\/p>\n