Errol Spence Jr Goes For World Title Saturday in the U.K. – The buzz is strong around Errol Spence Jr, the Texas native who travels to Sheffield, England this Saturday night to fight Kell Brook for the IBF world welterweight title.
Since he was a child, Spence Jr has been pinpointed as a special boxer, but that buzz became somewhat muted after Spence Jr and the entire 2012 Olympic team failed to win a medal at the London Olympic games. Spence Jr turned professional shortly after the 2012 games, in November of that year, and he has gone a perfect 21-0 since to earn his first world title shot against Brook. He has heard the word ‘prodigy’ for a long time as a youngster, and as a pro that buzzword is starting to be associated with him again. Now that he is on the cusp of a world title shot, there is the feeling that everything is as it should be in Errol Spence Jr’s world. That the fight is in England, the site of his Olympic defeat, cannot be lost on Spence Jr and must serve as additional motivation.
Brook is 36-1 in his own right, and the Brits think he is pretty good too. The bottom line with Brook is that they call him “The Special One” and he went a perfect 36-0 to start off his pro career, including a stand-out win over Shawn Porter to capture the IBF belt. He has since defended the belt three times and he had established himself as one of the top fighters in a crowded 147-pound welterweight class.
Brook is best remembered for his last fight, however, where he moved up to middleweight to face Gennady Golovkin and took the first loss of his career. In that fight, Brook made a solid show of it before getting stopped in the fifth round by the hard hitting Triple “G” after getting his orbital bone broken. And from there spring all the questions around Brook. An eye socket injury is complicated and a question mark until he faces live competition and beyond that, returning to 147 pounds after fighting at 160 pounds is another question mark for Brook.
Those are the main reasons Brook is an underdog at home defending his title. Spence Jr is thought to be the total package and that his time has come, but in terms of experience Spence Jr has no names like Gennady Golovkin or Shawn Porter anywhere on his resume. Brook on top of his game is, far and away, the toughest competition that Spence Jr has faced as a professional. Whether he can handle the leap or not remains to be seen, but Spence Jr’s fans feel pretty good about his chances on Saturday.
Errol Spence Jr Goes For World Title Saturday in the U.K.
The card is promoted by Eddie Hearn and his Matchroom Boxing and the card features a second world title fight as a co-feature when “Saint” George Groves (25-3) faces the challenge of Fedor Chudinov (14-1) with the IBF world belt at 168 pounds on the line.
Bramall Lane – Sheffield, England
Welterweight 12 rounds –
Errol Spence Jr -200 o10½ -155
Kell Brook +170 u10½ +135
Super Middleweight 12 rounds –
Fedor Chudinov +335
George Groves -420
Heavyweight 12 rounds –
Lenroy Thomas +230
David Allen -270
Errol Spence Jr Goes For World Title on Saturday in the U.K. / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science, where the best boxing writers write.
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