Errol Spence Planning Early Arrival to England for Brook Bout

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Errol Spence Jr. has heard many stories about boxers traveling overseas too late for the biggest fights of their careers.

The undefeated welterweight contender wants to make sure that doesn’t happen to him. Spence plans to leave the Dallas area about two weeks in advance of his May 27 fight against Kell Brook in Sheffield, England.

Boxing Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) in his hometown in Spence’s first world title fight is daunting enough. Spence (21-0, 18 KOs), the mandatory challenger for Brook’s IBF welterweight title, doesn’t need the additional stress of getting adjusted to differences in time and environment just a few days before he’ll have to weigh in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.

By arriving two weeks before their 12-round fight, the 27-year-old Spence will be refreshed by the time he must meet media obligations and wind down training camp.

“It’s basically just to get adjusted,” Spence said after watching from ringside as Shawn Porter stopped Andre Berto in the ninth round at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. “We didn’t wanna come the week of the fight, and then have – you know, go the week of the fight and then be sluggish and stuff like that. So we’re going two weeks early just to get adjusted, get grounded and stay focused, so the week of the fight we’ll be prepared.”

Among other things, the powerful southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, plans to attend a friend’s fight once he arrives in England. Spence will be ringside when Baltimore’s Gervonta Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) makes the first defense of his IBF super featherweight championship against England’s Liam Walsh (21-0, 14 KOs) on May 20 at Copper Box Arena in London.

Showtime will televise the Davis-Walsh and Brook-Spence fights live from England.

Brook-Spence is expected to draw a crowd of roughly 30,000 to Bramall Lane, a soccer stadium in Brook’s hometown. Despite that Spence is less experienced and will battle Brook on his home turf, the 2012 Olympian is a slight favorite a month before their fight (-175).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.