Doctor says Spence had Neurological Damage Before Crawford Fight

I would hate for this to be true, but the doctor was making a lot of since. I remember Derrick James telling Spence he needs to get off the line and move lateral. He never did that. He only went straight forward and backyards. He definitely was off this fight and looked off when they showed him in the locker room before he did his walk out. Looked tired and sleepy. I have to give Bud his props for winning in the fashion he did.

 

But Spence has always moved in straight lines when attacking and backing up, he's never been one to create angles for his shots like a Loma. His foot work was never that good, balanced for sure but his actual agility is not great and he has no real lateral movement. Getting off the line was the right advice but he had never given Spence the tool to do that vs an opponent which the foot work of Crawford.

If you watch their feet during the fight it's pretty obvious what is happening. Spence steps in on a straight line, Bud steps to the inside line, slipping Spence's shot and land hard shots down the centre line. It happened all fight along, even with Bud usually circling in one direction the whole fight, Spence simply didn't have the foot work to deal with it. Much like Usyk vs Joshua footwork decided the outcome, Bud never gave Spence the position to really mount any offence, you have to be in the right positions to throw and Crawford never allowed Spence into those positions so was left unable to do what he usually does.

 

That's because it was never a true 50/50 fight. Hence why we had a thread on here asking why so many people thought Bud would KO Spence. Those picking Spence it would be a hard fought close fight, those picking Bud thought he'd KO him and that's what we saw.

 

I disagree, Spence does have lateral movement when cutting the ring off. Not like Loma, but he has shown that in fights especially before the accident. Watch fights like Chris Algieri, Lamont Peterson and Mikey Garcia fight just to name a few. Bud actually wasn't slipping Spence shot. Bud was creating distance and space, while parrying and catching Spence jab, and then shotting his own jab while using timing against Spence! This is why many times Spence was off balance because of reaching, which left his open for Bud's counters. Bud repeated this over and over because Spence panic after the knockdown and started to force his way into Bud with his jab. Had he regrouped and settled down and took his time taking each round 1 by 1, it could have been a different fight. However, never being knocked down before was new territory for Spence, and he didn't handle it well.

 

It was a 50/50 fight because even people who picked Bud didn't really know what would happen. Most people picked KO because that's what they was hoping for. This fight came down to game plan. Bud had the better game plan because Spence and his team told you what they were going to do. Bud believed it and game planed for it. That was Spence down fall. Being overconfident that he can say the plan, and it would work. They didn't have a plan B and got caught like a deer with headlights shining on them! I thought Spence was playing mind games with Bud making him believe that game plan.

 

How exactly is his punch resistance bad? He lasted 9 rounds with Crawford landing 60% of his power shots. Crawford stopped every welter he met with a far less connect rate. Think about that. Of course a guy isn't gonna look good against an opponent that is landing at such a high rate and is moving off center and turning and countering as well as Bud. Did the accident prevent Spence from utilizing defense or changing up his attack? C'mon, I'll admit, Spence wasn't prime and the fight would have been better 4 years ago, but he wasn't dead on arrival either, like some are making out.

 

He spoke like Golota after Tyson (watch the interview on YouTube). Not surprising.

 

Honestly, the way this affects Crawford's legacy is totally a minor point. This turn of events just makes me feel really sorry for Spence

 

dude should post his linked in or something. how are we supposed to regard this as "settled science" in the current environment if he's not willing to put his ass on the line?

 

Bro, u keep saying “watch the video in full.” As multiple posters have told you, this is some guy in the video. He had nothing to do with the fight or the fighters. He’s basing his entire analysis on seeing a guy thru the television. Or internet, whatever. Dudes credentials ain’t even proven. You or I coulda made that video. And if he does prove his credentials, it’s far more likely that it’s PBC propaganda. Cuz a real doctor isn’t going to make such strong claims having never examined a patient in person. Come on, man. Everyone I know been saying Spence looked stoned n slow since way back when we first seen him.

 

Oh no doubt, Spence was weight drained and he wasn't able to perform his style of fight! However, if Spence not telling us this because he doesn't want it to be an excuse, then I won't stress it either.