“The Truth’’ about Errol Spence Jr.
Facts about WBC, WBA and IBF World Welterweight Champion Errol Spence Jr.
One of boxing history's most important and anticipated matchups of all time is about to take place on Saturday, July 29 as unified WBC, WBA and IBF Welterweight World Champion Errol “The Truth’’ Spence Jr. takes on WBO 147-pound world champion Terence “Bud’’ Crawford for the Undisputed Welterweight Championship at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas headlining a Premier Boxing Champions event.
The winner of this epic battle of undefeated superstars will become the first undisputed welterweight world champion in the four-belt era and undoubtedly emerge as the sport’s No.1 pound-for-pound fighter. Spence vs. Crawford joins Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, Pernell Whitaker vs. Julio César Chávez and Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, as a generational matchup of two popular stars whose dynamic and aggressive styles should produce an instant classic.
Ahead of Spence-Crawford, BBN have listed a plethora of facts about the unified champ, Errol Spence:
Facts
Errol Spence Jr was born on March 3, 1990 in Long Island, New York in USA, but has spent the majority of his life living in Dallas, Texas.
He is of Jamaican descent through his father and African-American descent through his mother.
His first sporting love was football and was a very talented quarterback.
He was 15 years old when he first stepped into the Vivero Boxing Gym in Dallas to start boxing with coaches Gene Vivero and Wayne Maddox. His boxing-fanatic father saw him playing around slap-fighting with his friends at their house and thought he looked pretty special! It was true, as the youngster began fighting in boxing tournaments just two weeks after his first ever training session, beating amateurs with four or five years more experience than him.
In 2009, he won the U.S Golden Gloves, then silver in 2010. He won three US National Championships in a row between 2009-2011.
He ran his amateur record to 135-12.
Spence Jr. participated in the London 2012 Olympics, but lost in the quarter-finals to Russian boxer Andrey Zamkovoy, who went on to win a bronze medal. Interestingly, Zamkovoy went on to win a bronze at Tokyo 2020 too. Disappointly for Spence, he beat Zamkovoy in Germany (10-9) that same year in March, but then lost when it mattered at the summer games, scored 11-16. At that time, the USA Boxing were going through a difficult phase and the coaches leading the team were only chosen one month before.
He recalls watching Dallas fighter Luis Yanez qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympics and instantly decided he wanted to go to the Olympics too.
Notable defeats in the amateurs include Brian Carlos Castano (WBO World super-welterweight champion); Serik Sapiyev (Olympic and World champion).
Notable scalps include Regis Prograis (reigning WBC world super-lightweight champion); Julian Williams (Former unified world super-welterweight champion); Custio Clayton (IBF Interim title contender).
He is trained by Derrick James in his World Class Boxing Gym in Houston, Texas, and managed by Al Haymon.
His nickname is The Truth.
He has won all 28 pro fights, 22 by knockout, so far in his professional career. He is 7-0, 4KOs in world championship bouts which all came against world champions.
He is a southpaw and stands at 5ft 9-and-a-half inches. His reach is 72 inches long.
He was 22 when he made a professional debut against Jonathon Garcia, winning the fight by knockout in the third round. He won 10 of his first 12 fights by stoppage.
In 2015, Spence was named ESPN Prospect of the Year.
He was signed to fight Manny Pacquiao on August 21, 2021, but had to withdraw due to a retinal tear in his left eye.
His last fight was in 2022 against Yordenis Ugas.
He has fought twice abroad, in Canada and England, and won both bouts by knockout.
The 33-year-old father of three has two daughters, Ivy 6 and Violet 5, and one son, Errol Spence III. he takes all three to the gym sometimes and reports that they "run riot", but his son does actually try to imitate him.
Spence survived a horrific car crash when he flipped his Ferrari several times in October 2019. Remarkably, he survived just a few cuts and bruises even though he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the car at high speed. Just three months later, another driver crashed into the back of his G Wagon. Then, almost exactly two years later, in December 2022, he was involved in another collision when a 14-year-old reportedly ran a red light in his parents car and managed to completely crush the front of Errol's car. He admitted to suffering from PTSD afterwards saying that he kept having thoughts and images of other cars crashing into him.
Spence vs Crawford fight preview
Spence vs Crawford fight predictions
How to watch Spence-Crawford in the UK
Article sponsored by HÖRFA