This content is protected In this excellent highlight reel the first thing i noticed is that spence is ALWAYS in shape. Its not enough to have power, his great stamina means that he has a great delivery system for said power. I dont ever recall seeing him gasping for air and clinching to stall and recover. Spence has never been down, which again shows his great conditioning and balance. His fundamentals are on point and he has surprising accuracy. What I really like is that he patiently breaks the opponent down throwing solid, compact punches even when the opponent is badly hurt. Speaking of power, you can hear a loud "boom" with every shot. He always has bad intentions and while he may lack in snap and explosiveness, he more than makes up for it with his brutal heavy handedness and high ring iq. Only weaknesses I really see are his lack of head movement and relatively slow feet. It would also suit him to stick his jab out more as its underrated and powerful. This content is protected Thurman is what fiction writers would call a "lightning berserker". He constantly darts in and out with explosiveness. He uses his reflexes and speed to escape and weave out of danger rather than traditional solid defense, parries, etc. While on the retreat, he throws something out to discourage you. While on the attack, he pauses mid combination to observe and see if any return fire is coming his way. Thurman's seek and destroy style leads to a lot of trading and exchanges. In other words, hes a risk taker and trusts that his high power and good chin will win out if it becomes a brawl. If he cant hurt or knockdown the opponent, he isnt too proud to stick and move or box. He has nasty hooks and underrated ring iq, well aware of his place in the ring and the habits of his opponent. Obviously hes not on the level of say, Mayweather, but few top boxers today are able to make adjustments mid fight like Thurman (the danny garcia fight is a perfect example). Like Spence, you can hear the loud thud of nearly every punch. However, he seems to be more of a jolting "explosive" puncher and is able to get more leverage and body weight behind his shots. He has power in either hand and can quickly change angles throwing surprising unorthodox punches. Thurman can even switch to southpaw. People love to talk about Spences body shots but i noticed thurman has some very painful looking body attacks too. He wisely invests in them when he has a guy hurt and can use them mid combination in a sneaky way. His main weaknesses are that he is a little too willing o trade and throw wild punches on occasion. In more recent fights Thurman has become a better technician, focusing more on winning rounds but this actually has hurt his overall fight game to a degree. His biggest fights ended in split decisions and he may have lost some of that aggressive hunger of his younger self, trusting the judges see things his way. If i had to compare them id break it down like this Jab: thurman Cross: spence Uppercut: thurman Hooks: even Body shots: even Defense: spence Stamina: spence Combinations: even Ring iq: hard to say, maybe spence Footwork: thurman Speed: thurman Chin: even Thurman: advantages in 4 categories, spence: advantages in 4 categories, the rest are even. This would be one hell of a fight! I think based on individual attributes the fight probably doesnt end early. Despite the fact they both hit like trucks, they are very durable with very high stamina. Both men are seasoned pros at this point. Spence seems to be the more aggressivr of the two lately while Thurman has become a more well rounded fighter. I can see Thurmans speed advantage and awkward footwork giving spence trouble early as the latter lacks head movement and mobility. But Thurman has shown he can be hurt to the body (against collazo) and gets discouraged if hr cant get the ko (against danny. However, as mentioned above Thurman is one of the best at making adjustments and stealing rounds. Really hard to pick a winner, but if i had a gun to my nuts id say Spence wins by split decision with both men severely bruised and possibly 1 knockdown a piece. It definitely wouldnt be easy and there would need to be a rematch as there would be many close rounds with lots of heavy exhanges. I think stamima and conditioning are what will determime the winner and spence has to be slightly favored in that area.
I couldn’t read of all of that, but imo Thurman does well moving and flurrying as usual for the first three rounds until Spence’s body attack starts to take it’s toll. By the 5th he will be forced to bang it out and I think he gets stopped in the 7th or 8th.
Very good breakdown, esp re Spence's jab. But I would add two important elements: 1: Thurman arguably hits slightly harder, but he also often telegraphs his punches with those huge wind-ups. (especially the right hand) Against a tough opponent who isn't afraid to stand & trade, (Spence, for instance) he might be very susceptible to counterpunching. 2: Thurman has the better D, and the more varied offense, as you point out very well, but that style also gives his opponents time to think, time to move. Spence just comes right at you, relentless ad unforgiving. If you blink, you're doomed. It's a very effective style, even if it isn't as "pretty" to watch. I wouldn't try to pick a winner when they finally meet, and I'm a big fan of both men, but my gut says Spence takes Thurman out.
We don't know enough about Spence yet. We do know that Spence will fight an unknown fighter who can't fight, Ocampo is not top ten or 20.........................Spence will stay away from Porter, Thurman should beat Spence, I think Thurman has more experience and has fought the far better opposition than Spence. Who has Spence fought? Brook? A sick broken Brook........................Crawford will not go near Spence and Spence won't go near Crawford...................