by David P. Greisman

We know that Errol Spence is the truth. We know that “The truth” is more than just his nickname.

Yet.

We’re about to. We’re on the verge because, well, Spence is on the verge. His sixth-round knockout of Leonard Bundu this past Sunday positioned him as the mandatory challenger to the welterweight world title presently held by Kell Brook.

He’s ready. Truly, he was ready well before this fight.

In 2015, Spence graduated from prospect to contender, winning handily in all four of his appearances, taking out Samuel Vargas in four rounds, Phil Lo Greco in three, Chris van Heerden in eight and Alejandro Barrera in five. While these names were nowhere near the most significant at 147 — none has nor will ever challenge for a world title — they had a combined 97 wins and five losses between them. None had ever been stopped before. Spence was the first for each.

It was the way he performed in those fights that made this year a formality. This year should’ve brought the typical transition to taking on the kind of names that would be there to give us the measure of a rising contender before he steps in with the true cream of his division. That’s not what happened this year, not with the names he faced. Spence was matched with Chris Algieri and Leonard Bundu because they would be beaten, and because Spence would look good beating them.

Algieri, a former world titleholder at 140 pounds, had only been defeated twice before, losing a lopsided decision to Manny Pacquiao in 2014 and giving Amir Khan a highly competitive outing in 2015. Yet he had neither the power nor the speed to compete with Spence’s. Algieri, who had made it to the final bell despite six knockdowns against Pacquiao, went down three times against Spence and was done after five rounds.

Bundu was, at best, a fringe contender. He was undefeated for nine and a half years but also had only recently stepped up, which given the names he stepped up against said plenty about the level of opposition he had been fighting before. He stopped Lee Purdy in late 2013, then edged Frankie Gavin in August 2014. That landed him a fight with Keith Thurman. Bundu didn’t win a single round. Thurman boxed the night away, winning a shutout on the scorecards.

Bundu was 40 years old for the Thurman fight. He was three months away from his 42nd birthday when he fought Spence, who was 15 years his junior and light years better.

Bundu was awkward, but any difficulty he would give Spence early would be the best he could do all night. Spence, meanwhile, could study, adjust and switch into a higher level. Bundu didn’t have enough power to trouble Spence. Spence dug to the body, forced Bundu to the ropes, threw an uppercut between Bundu’s gloves to score one knockdown — wrongly ruled a slip — and then sent hooks around Bundu’s guard to knock him out.

Spence landed 137 of 388 punches over the course of five full rounds and two additional minutes, a 35 percent connect rate that reflects Spence’s reliance on the jab to set up the power to come — he was 51 of 254 with that shot, barely a 20 percent connect rate, one in every five landing but the jab otherwise doing its job. That’s because it helped allow Spence to be an excellent 86 of 134 with power, a 64 percent connect rate, nearly two landing for every three thrown.

Bundu was only 51 of 201, landing fewer than 10 punches per round. He was 11 of 47 with jabs, 40 of 154 with power.

Spence is too skilled, too fast, too powerful for this level of opponent. That much is the truth.

We still need to see how he’ll fare against the upper tier of welterweights.

That could’ve come sooner. That could’ve come Sunday. But the reason he ended up facing Bundu in this title eliminator is a matter of sanctioning body rankings and promotional maneuvering.

Last November, Spence was ranked No. 10 by the International Boxing Federation while his opponent for later that month, Alejandro Barrera, was No. 13. Spence’s victory over Barrera catapulted him to No. 2.

The top seed belonged to Kevin Bizier, who was easily taken out in two rounds by titleholder Kell Brook this past March. That left a vacancy and a need for the IBF to determine the next mandatory challenger to Brook’s belt.

No. 3 as of early this June was Konstantin Ponomarev. No. 4 was Jeff Horn. No. 5 was Lamont Peterson. No. 6 was Sammy Vasquez. No. 7 was Bundu.

Ponomarev had a lingering hand injury from a fight earlier this year. Horn turned down the fight. So did Peterson. Vasquez initially accepted, according to what IBF Chairman Lindsey Tucker told boxing reporter Dan Rafael of ESPN.com in June.

“When I asked him to put it in writing, he said he was going in another direction,” Tucker told Rafael.

Spence is with adviser/manager/de facto promoter Al Haymon. So are Peterson and Vasquez. Peterson hasn’t fought since October 2015. He needs a fight, and since he’s left the 140-pound division behind he needs to establish himself at welterweight. A win over Spence would’ve done that.

It’s possible Peterson was told that there was something else coming for him. It’s possible that the money being offered to him wasn’t enough to make him want to take the fight. But then again, the purse strings were controlled by Haymon. If Peterson wasn’t being offered enough, it’s because Haymon didn’t want a fight between Spence and Peterson to be made just yet. Peterson could wait for more money, for the possibility of fighting for a world title down the line instead of just competing in a title eliminator. But he’s sat for more than 10 months now. Doing something and getting paid something is better than getting paid nothing to do nothing.

Vasquez, meanwhile, went on to face and lose to Felix Diaz in July. Vasquez wouldn’t have posed any difficulty for Spence. Peterson may have given Spence trouble.

All of which allowed Spence to have another easy outing en route to a title shot. With Kell Brook facing Gennady Golovkin all the way up at middleweight this September, the title could end up being vacant. Spence could face someone else for the belt.

That’s unfortunate, since Brook is very good. And there’s no longer a need to see Spence in against someone who isn’t.

It’s time for him to take on the likes of Brook, Diaz, Danny Garcia, Peterson, Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman. Not all of those names are equal, but all of them would represent steps up from Algieri and Bundu.

Spence isn’t the first fighter from the 2012 Olympics to be in position to compete for a world title. Vasyl Lomachenko lost a close one to Orlando Salido at featherweight in March 2014 and then won a vacant title against Gary Russell Jr. three months later (Lomachenko also is one of the greatest amateurs ever and is one of the best pros today). Zou Shiming challenged Amnat Ruenroeng unsuccessfully at flyweight in March 2015. Rau’shee Warren came up short against Juan Carlos Payano at bantamweight in August 2015 but won a rematch, and a world title, this past June.

Anthony Joshua picked up a heavyweight title in April. Dominic Breazeale lost to Joshua in June. Oscar Valdez won a vacant featherweight belt this past July. Oleksandr Usyk will face cruiserweight titleholder Krzysztof Glowacki this September. Others, like light heavyweight Artur Beterbiev and featherweight Joseph Diaz, are getting closer to contention as well.

But it’s been a fast ascent for Spence, who is clearly the cream of the American team from four years ago. We need to see whether he will be the best of the welterweight division of today, see how his speed and power and skills will look against fighters who are also fast and strong and talented.

It’s one thing for Spence to get spotlight fights against fighters who don’t belong in the ring with him. It’s another thing for him to earn the spotlight by beating fighters who do.

If “The Truth” is going to be known, then the whole truth needs to be shown.

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com