by Edward Chaykovsky

Last week, undefeated welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) made a huge statement when he knocked out Leonard Bundu (32-2-2, 13 KOs)at the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York. A Premier Boxing Champions record peak of 6.3 million viewers watched the fight.

It was the second defeat of Bundu's career and the first time he was stopped. Bundu had previously lost a twelve round decision to the hard punching Keith Thurman in the fall of 2014.

In that first defeat, Bundu suffered a flash knockdown early but then he was never in any real danger for the remainder of the fight. Against Spence, he was knocked out cold in the sixth round after taking a hard combination against the ropes.

Teddy Atlas, who is an ESPN expert analyst and head trainer of former champion Timothy Bradley, felt the victory by Spence put the entire welterweight division on notice.

“Errol Spence is big, strong and athletic with speed and power in both hands,” Atlas told Premier Boxing Champions. “He isn’t yet a Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao in a promotional sense ... but I don't think anyone in the welterweight division is in a hurry to fight him. He has so much talent.”

Atlas was far from the only trainer to be impressed by Spence. Virgil Hunter, who trains such fighters as Andre Ward and Amir Khan, views Spence as a very special fighter who will become "the next great welterweight.”

"Spence said, ‘I’m burglarizing your house not through the front door, but picking locks and entering windows,’” Hunter said. “‘I may absorb some punches coming at you, but my body shots will soften you up before I blast you out.’”

The victory over Bundu made Spence the mandatory challenger to IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook. Spence will have to wait a few weeks to figure out his next move, as Brook moves up by thirteen pounds to face middleweight king Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin on September 10th in the UK. Win or lose, Brook may never return to 147 - which then allows Spence to face the highest available contender for the vacant belt.