Why Did People Think Errol Spence Was Good?

A lot of unfair revisionism going on here; Spence was never Sugar Ray Leonard, but to say he wasn't good or wasn't a top fighter of his era sends the dial too far the other way. Writing off Mikey Garcia as a "fat lightweight" is just outright disrespectful; Mikey Garcia was a brilliant fighter, and painfully underrated. In 2018, he was top 5 P4P, a 4-weight world champion who schooled Broner at 140.

Mikey Garcia had no business at 147, and Spence didn't beat the best version of him, but he beat an undefeated version of him who had won the IBF title at 140, so the idea he had travelled up 3 or 4 weight divisions out of his depth just isn't the case. He went one weight too far, as a lot of great fighters looking for legacy fights do, and got absolutely shut out by a very good version (arguably the best version) of Spence. It was a solid win, not S-tier, but to downplay it as nothing isn't fair either.

It's pretty well documented that Spence went right at Mayweather in 2012 and gave him better work in sparring than anyone else ever had before or since, even when he was surrounded by Floyd's cheerleading sycophants in his own gym. He was also an Olympian, so there are two pretty big boxes ticked early on to show that he was better than average.

It's odd to use the Porter fight as a criticism; Porter was a very good fighter of his era, and very underrated in many ways. He was always world-level, and never looked out of his depth against anyone. He beat Usyk as an amateur, who is considered an omnipotent, infallible unicorn of the sport, and it's hardly ever mentioned, but when Spence beats him in a war of attrition in a close fight and has him on the floor, it's suddenly a bad win, and he's shot to pieces.

Brook, as well, stopped him in front of his home crowd in the UK to win the title, unified two belts, with great wins against Danny Garcia and Porter. In 2023, Spence was #4 in The Ring's P4P rankings, probably too high, and PBC definitely marketed him above his skill set, but you don't gatecrash the P4P rankings if you are an average fighter. Downplaying Spence is usually a precursor to saying Crawford is overrated, when the reality really is that Spence was one of the best welterweights of his era, and Crawford was the best welterweight of his era.

 

What? When has the Theory of Relativity been disproven? Please provide a source.

 

I had felt like a lone voice for years with Spence. The US Media always over-hypes local talent. He looked sensational on the way up, pre-title days. An early sign for me that he was not 'all that' was the Kell Brook fight. Brook was a broken man, post GGG but it took Spence till later in the fight to get on top. Then he basically became the PBC champion. I reckon, I put a $1000 on him to beat Porter which he made me sweat for. As has been posted, he was good but not great in my opinion. He's definitely IBHOF worthyto the standards they have set but a truly uncompromised HOF, he wouldn't get in, like quite a few already inthe IBHOF. He was a good fighter obviously world class but not in elevated company, in my personal view. I never, ever thought he could beat Crawford.

 

I don't disagree with the first point, Serge, but wouldn't you say P4P is more transient? If these were all in their prime at the same time, I wouldn't put Spence above any of them, but they all had different peaks. When Josh Taylor cleaned up in 2021, for instance, and became undisputed at 140, he was in most people's P4P list, but upon revision, would he have given Crawford or Shakur much of a problem in their prime at 140? I don't think so. But it still doesn't change the record that he was a P4P-rated fighter in the history books at one point.

Same with Benavidez, I'd obviously put him above Spence skill-wise and P4P in the grand scheme of things, but after Spence dethroned and stopped Brook in his own backyard and started being talked about as a P4P top 10 name, a few months later Benavidez was getting dropped by Ronald Gavril, so there wasn't an argument to be made at that stage.

I think P4P is about timing and when they peak; between the start of 2018 up to the Porter fight, I think Spence was in that top 10. Definitely not a truly elite name as an ATG at 147, but because of the ups and downs the P4P list goes through, and when he hit his prime and had his best wins, I'd say he was in there.

 

I don’t think Spence at his best was really a lower level fighter than Davis. If Twink fought Shakur next, he may well look as helpless as Spence did against Crawford.

 

Anyone that’s top 5 pfp should be elite or very close to it. Spence just isn’t that and that’s ok.

 

Kell Brook before the GGG fight is someone I'd rank above Spence in terms of talent. However, what did he do with that talent in his prime? He was fighting guys like Kevin Bizier. Errol Spence, regardless of how highly you rate his competition, consistently fought the best available opponents in his division. Thurman ducked him, and the Pacquiao fight fell through, but right after that, Spence got in the ring with Ugas, who beat Pacquiao. Besides that, who else did he not fight? Boxing fans focus too much on elite fighters who fight bums. A fighter who consistently fights the best fights available in their division deserves more praise. And for the record, Spence was very good, not elite, but most fighters aren't elite.

 

The accident ruined him IMO.

 

Because he was?

He wasn’t on Crawfords level but was still very good. Kell Brooke said he was really good and he’s been in the ring with both. That was a quality win

 

Always thought you rated Brook CST.

Fair call about who he’s beaten, but imo he was a very talented guy. The version Spence fought was far from his prime though

In his prime up to GGG, his raw athleticism and reaction/timing where super impressive imo

plus it was nice seeing him wipe out Khan, like he clearly always would have