By Keith Idec, photo by Ryan Greene
Errol Spence Jr. is determined to be as prepared as possible for the first title fight of his career.
That’s why the undefeated welterweight contender left the Dallas area over the weekend, two full weeks in advance of his May 27 fight against IBF champion Kell Brook in Sheffield, England. Spence has been training at Amir Khan’s gym in Bolton since he arrived in England on Sunday.
The powerful southpaw still is adjusting to the time change and shaking off jet lag, so he is pleased with his decision to the leave the United States so early.
“It was just jet lag and the time change,” Spence said during a conference call Tuesday. “Even right now, it’s kind of been a struggle because they’re six hours ahead of us. So I’m kind of tired and, you know, basically adjusting to the time and everything, the jet lag and stuff like that. But we’ve been having great training out here, great sparring, and basically just staying focused out here. So I think it was a good decision to come out here earlier.”
Comparatively, Gervonta Davis didn’t leave his training camp in Las Vegas until this past weekend for his fight against England’s Liam Walsh on Saturday in London. Based on what he has heard and read about experiences of other American fighters, that time frame wouldn’t have worked for Spence, a 2012 Olympian from DeSoto, Texas.
“I done heard about that a couple times,” Spence said, “you know, guys coming Tuesday or three days before the fight and being jet-lagged or not having their legs or the switching time zones like that messed them up a little bit. So we just wanted to take all the precautions and come out here early, so we’ll be 100-percent prepared.”
The 27-year-old Spence (21-0, 18 KOs), Brook’s mandatory challenger, will box Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) at Bramall Lane, a soccer stadium in Brook’s hometown that’ll hold a sellout crowd of roughly 30,000 next Saturday. Showtime will broadcast Brook-Spence on May 27 in the United States (5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT).
Showtime also will televise the bout between Baltimore’s Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) and Walsh (21-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday from Copper Box Arena (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT). Davis-Walsh will begin Showtime’s coverage of four fights Saturday, the last three of which will be broadcast from MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
The tripleheader from MGM National Harbor will pit WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs), from nearby Capitol Heights, Maryland, against Colombia’s Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs). Escandon is Russell’s mandatory challenger.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.