IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. looked impressive last Saturday night in Texas when he stopped Carlos Ocampo in the first round.
Now, the guy that many want to see Spence fight is WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford, but he’s with Top Rank, and the earliest we would see that fight is in 2019.
The 28-year-old Spence is looking to fight again near the end of the year and is seeking to unify the titles. Unfortunately for Spence, he won’t be able to fight the winner of Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter, who are expected to fight for the vacant WBC welterweight title this fall. Therefore, those two fighters won’t be available in 2018.
The man that Spence has been chasing for a while now is WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who vacated the WBC welterweight title because of an elbow injury. Thurman is expected to return this year, but it won’t be against a fighter the caliber of Spence.
Spence would love to get his hands on Thurman, but he does not expect it to happen anytime soon:
I don’t think he’s(Thurman) scared, but I don’t think he really wants that fight,” Spence said Tuesday on “The Breakfast Club” on POWER 105.1 in New York City. ‘I been calling that dude out since I was 15-0, and he knows it. We’ll see what happens.”
I exactly agree with what Spence is saying here. I don’t think Thurman is running toward that fight, but I don’t think he is scared. If Thurman gets healthy, and strings together a few victories, eventually he will have to fight Spence.