What Makes Errol Spence Special?

Congrats for predicting that Crawford would win. You wanna freakin medal or something?

I would consider him special, but I would also point out that his career was cut short by the car wreck so his career didn't pan out in the way that it could have due to the injuries sustained in the car wreck.

His performances speak for themself. There was a reason why he was a Top P4P fighter. If you don't consider him special, that's fine, but the question was asked and I'm explaining why he was.

 

It's impossible to disprove that given that we only saw Crawford against a reduced version of Spence, who had clearly been slurring his words for years and was not the same fighter he was before the wreck. But you might be right. Crawford is obviously an incredible fighter who maybe could have beaten pre-crash Spence. But we'll never know.

 

Congrats for missing the point entirely the point wasn't that i predicted Crawford would win the point was i never considered Spence as special or great. Which basically means i didn't jump on the bandwagon based on the Crawford loss which you were suggesting.

As i said if you consider him special then you're putting him on pedestal alongside such talents like RJJ, Whitaker, Pacquiao. They're the kind of fighters that fans consider special hence you're overrating him no ifs or buts because anyone with common sense can see Spence was never on that level.

What performances are those ?

Very close win over Shawn Porter ?

Losing to Brook before his eye injury started effecting him which never truly recovered after the Golovkin fight ?

Beating a Lightweight in Mikey Garcia who moved up two weightclasses who he towered over and was a huge favourite against ?

 

Yes, but Cotto is a Hall of Famer and was also the World Middleweight Champion.

If you think Cotto beats everyone Spence beat, except Crawford, that's kinda good. Right?

Spence was one of the better welterweights in history. And there have been a lot of welterweight champions. Hell, there are four or five guys who claim to be welterweight champion right now.

Guess it just depends on how you use the term "special."

I don't think you have to be the top two or three EVER in a weight class to be considered "special." He was the best at his weight for five or six years.

That's a long time at welterweight.

 

No, you're missing the point that Spence wasn't the same fighter by the time he fought Crawford. So you claiming you never considered Spence special or great going into the Crawford fight is a self-fulfilling prophecy given that Spence was no longer "special" by then due to his being reduced by the crash. This would be like saying that Sweet Pea Whitaker wasn't special because he got dominated by Trinidad or stopped in his last fight. Well he wasn't special anymore by then because he was clearly past his prime. In Spence's case, in hindsight, the car wreck clearly took him out of his prime and he wasn't "special" after that anymore. So him losing to Crawford the way he did says nothing about how "special" he was before the car wreck.

No, there's levels to special. By the way, out of curiosity. Do you consider Canelo "Special"?

 

Special to me is one of kind stand out fighter and i never got the impression from Spence.

A few examples of fighters i consider special....

RJJ
Tyson
Whitaker
Leonard
Pacquiao
Mayweather

When i watched these fighters they "wowed" me and have the resume to back up their talent. Spence was a very good Welterweight as i've already said but special or great ? not for me no and he never was.

 

Can't be more clear than this

 

I agree that Spence wasn't in the class of those guys. He wasn't as "special" as those guys. But still relatively "special" in the era in which he fought. Saying someone is "special" doesn't mean you have to put them exactly on par with the greatest fighters to ever do it.

For example, Prince Naseem was clearly "special" but would you put his entire career and body of work up with the best to ever do it? Of course not.

 

Every fighter must be “special” to get props now. You guys can’t appreciate anybody

 

I can see that. Spence was an excellent welterweight champion. When I started watching boxing, fighters tended to stick to one division. So five or six years at the top of a division was pretty special.

Other than Tyson, you seem to gravitate toward guys who jump from division to division to division (and division to division). That's fine, too.

To each his own.

 

No you're missing the point and trying force your agenda on me.

Spence was never special and there's nothing in his resume or his most notable fights regarding the eye test to suggest he was. When Spence stepped up to the next level he got dismantled end of.

No it wouldn't lol because Whitaker already had an ATG career prior to the Trinidad loss what a terrible comparison you're really comparing Whitaker's resume and talent to Spence ? my goodness....

No but i consider him a great and he's fought at a considerable higher level than Spence for certain.

 

Exactly. One of the better Featherweight champs in history, though.

 

His recklessness outside the ring really messed up his trajectory in the sport. If he wouldn't have been drinking and driving at high speeds getting ejected and thrown 50ft out his car who knows how his career would have played out.

 

Let me ask you this. Was Spence the same fighter before the car wreck as he was after the car wreck? Do you acknowledge that Spence was a reduced fighter by the time he fought Crawford?

Don't be daft. I'm not comparing Whitaker's resume and talent to Spence. I'm saying you're using a post prime, reduced version of a fighter's performance against an ATG to argue he wasn't ever special. Of course, Whitaker had an ATG career. Try not to strawman me and obfuscate from the points that I am making.

If you don't consider Canelo "special" then I don't know what you tell you. Canelo is "clearly" special, more special than Spence, who I also consider special, at least before the wreck, but obviously not as special as Canelo. As Canelo has proved himself vs better competition than Spence has and has done it over a very long period of time. There's levels to this.

By the way, do you consider Prince Naseem "Special"?

 

People win so many belts in so many different divisions now before you even know who they are, the allure started wearing off for me a long time ago.

I remember when Benitez and Arguello won titles in three divisions within a week or so of each other, and it was headline news everywhere. They were only among a handful of people who had ever done it in the sport's history. (Nobody had won titles in four.)

Now, thanks to weigh-ins being moved back and people rehydrating, guys win titles in three divisions before you even know who they are. And many aren't very good.

I've gone back to appreciating more and more champions who stick to one division for an extended period of time (if not the whole time).