There was a night in 2017 I was in Las Vegas searching for Floyd Mayweather Jnr when I entered the fighter’s famed gym and had a chance meeting with a new world champion who looked like he might become the next incarnation of “Money.”
Texas’ Errol Spence Jnr, who U.S. Olympic boxing team advisor Freddie Roach identified as the most talented of the 2012 team, was days away from venturing to England to wrest the IBF welterweight title away from native champion Kell Brook.
The triumph, following a 2016 fifth-round stoppage of former 140lbs champion Chris Algieri a year earlier, represented Spence’s 19th KO/stoppage in his first 22 bouts.
In contrast to the mouthy Mayweather, Spence maintained a humble demeanor one could expect from being raised by a postwoman mother and contractor father.
Spence admitted earlier this year that his charm and talent made him the favorite fighter in powerful manager Al Haymon’s stable, and he was steered patiently and smartly through victories over former 140lbs champion Lamont Peterson and then a massive homecoming pay-per-view triumph against four-division champion Mikey Garcia at AT&T Stadium outside Dallas to flex his drawing power.
There was something intriguing about Spence divulging all details about his ascent, something refreshing about his dedication to the craft, something spectacular about his punishing attention to body punching (check out his first-round knockout of Carlos Ocampo in 2018) and his mastery of the jab from a left-handed stance.
Then there was his guile.
I can recall criticizing Premier Boxing Champions for not moving Spence directly from the Cowboys Stadium victory over Garcia to a unification fight with Terence Crawford.
Promoter and matchmaker Tom Brown came right back at me, arguing the selection of champion Shawn Porter for a unification was nothing to ridicule.
Brown was also factoring in some pre-Crawford moves that PBC wanted to make with Spence, but he was absolutely correct.
Haymon’s sculpting of Spence looked sublime when record eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao emerged with an upset of WBA champion Keith Thurman in July 2019.
Pacquiao’s willingness to fight the best made him overlook the youth, reach and height advantages Spence possessed.
I recall running into Spence the morning after Pacquiao defeated Thurman, thinking it almost unfair that the pair would meet five-plus years after Mayweather defeated Pacquiao.
Spence released a coy smile responding to the suggestion that he would dismantle Pacquiao.
“No, he looks good,” Spence deadpanned.
First, he had to confront the pitbull-type approach of Porter, which made that September 2019 fight at Staples Center in Los Angeles the runner-up for fight of the year, with Spence avoiding a fanciful boxing display to engage Porter in an inside, toe-to-toe display that entertained and emphasized exactly why the victorious Texan was such a rare gem.
It turned out to be the final performance of prime Errol Spence. Because real life happened.
One thing we know from covering a cavalcade of sporting figures through the years is that while we may think we know the person, we don’t know everything.
And Spence’s penchant for enjoying his life between fights by straying to alcohol was a divergence that separated him from Mayweather reaching 50-0 by 2017.
The horrifying, multiple-flip crash of Spence’s Ferrari in Dallas threatened to end his career, smashing his mouth, beating up his body and altering his life perspective.
It spoke volumes that he was able to return to the ring less than 14 months later and defeat two-division champion Danny Garcia.
But the residue of the crash included a torn retina that saw Spence’s planned 2021 fight with Pacquiao get canceled, leaving Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas to defeat the Filipino legend and set up a three-belt unification of far less magnitude versus Spence in 2022.
Spence Ugas in the 10th round.
He took another significant break – of 15 months – to fight again, agreeing to fight Nebraska’s Crawford in a showdown of American heartland talent to establish the best fighter of their generation.
Spence says his training camp with Derrick James was all wrong, a befuddling development given that they worked together from the amateurs through all the pro success.
Crawford’s wondrous skill also had something to do with the outcome, as he decked Spence three times before stopping him in the ninth round. A complete and utter beating.
Spence stopped answering if he was coming back, promoting lightweight title challenger Frank Martin, and revealing to BoxingScene’s Tris Dixon all that the crash took from him.
“A lot of people take it lightly just because I came back and fought and all that, but that’s serious stuff. It’s not too many people that go high speed in a Ferrari and get thrown from a Ferrari, land on solid concrete and still be here to talk today, still survive, still be coherent and everything,” Spence said.
“That was traumatic and a brutal experience that I went through. People take it lightly because I’m still fighting and still talk shit and all that but there was some serious stuff there. It was definitely serious.”
The lure of not knowing what remained got the best of Spence, bringing him back to fight former 154lbs champion Tim Tszyu in a middleweight fight Sunday in Australia.
Spence’s power didn’t carry upward in weight. His backfoot seemed weakened. He “pushed” his punches more than throw with the ease of the old days.
And when it was done, when the judges ruled against him by scores 118-110, 117-111, 117-111, he announced his retirement.
“Returning, I answered a lot of questions for myself, but it’s time to go home and start a new life. I got my faculties intact, my money is good and my family is by my side. Everything’s going to go well from here.”
Crawford watched from ringside and commented that Spence’s reflexes were sabotaged by age and the three-year layoff.
Spence thanked his fans for remaining loyal through the “trials and tribulations” of his “long journey,” saying, “You’ve got to be smart enough to end the journey when it’s time.
“I love y’all, and thank you for the support.”
Nicknamed “The Truth,” Spence deserves credit both for his career accomplishments, his candor regarding his self-induced injuries and for pressing himself to go overseas again to fight Tszyu in Sydney.
He was near the top of his class in the pound-for-pound rankings during his too-brief peak, never pulled punches discussing the trappings of his sport and gave a champion’s effort each time.
Boxing needed “The Truth,” and the sport is lesser without him.