Errol Spence Jr. was not physically 100 percent going into the Terence Crawford fight.
That is according to actor Michael Jai White. The comments were based on statements made by a friend of the actor, who had been training with Spence. Concerns over his physicality were centred on Spence’s weak legs. In addition, there were suggestions that people within Spence’s camp may have overlooked Crawford. Those claims play into the narrative that the weight cut at 147 may have taken its toll on Spence as well as question marks over how much damage his prior car accidents had done to his mindset. And given that Spence has exercised his rematch clause, there may be a genuine belief that the ‘Truth’ can turn things around.
“I had some inside information. A good friend of mine who trains with Spence and was with Spence a month beforehand, and he told me, ‘No, Mike.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘He don’t have it. I said, ‘What are you talking [about]?’ ‘No,’ he said. ‘Spence is not a shade of what he was,’ and this is before the [Crawford] fight. This was a while. He’s like, ‘I wish Spence would not take this fight. He’s not ready.
“I was like, ‘Really?’ and then when I saw Spence-Crawford, I’m like, ‘Oh shoot, he don’t look like Spence,’ and then after that fight, I realized he really is not there. His legs [weren’t] there. There was so much that was [not there],” White said
Nevertheless, Crawford did stress before the fight that excuses would emerge once he had beaten Spence. But to the credit of the latter, Spence did not offer up any excuses as he recognised that Crawford was the better man. However, a rematch at 154 may alter the outcome if the weight was the issue. But given that Crawford did win the fight, he will ultimately decide the weight class.