Spence is a huge welterweight, he has been at 147 the whole career.
Thinking you are something because you beat Porter and ex 140 guy Danny Garcia is a joke. And now he will challenge ex flyweight an maybe he even loses the fight, lol.
Man up and fight middleweights if you want some legacy.
WBO's president is notorious for CONSTANTLY tossing veiled threats regardless of who's the mandatory and whether they asked for the fight, for every one of their champions BUT Crawford.
Usyk went silent when Fury/Joshua allegedly started negotiations, but the day after: "Joshua has a mandatory, ball's in your court Eddie". Threat, Usyk wasn't pushing it.
Shakur has not voiced any push to fight Herring. Yet IMMEDIATELY after Herring goes through war with Frampton and is trying to celebrate, WBO president tosses a threat.
Hell, they even threatened Floyd just before he fought Berto. That was over belt fees, but still, they threatened TBE! But not Crawford.
It's BS.
EDIT: and they just threatened Ioka. They're shielding Crawford. Period.
Usyk agreed to step aside, so of course when they found out the ruling he spoke. Yes Usyk was pushing it, he said that after Joshua faces Pulev that he must fight him or vacate. He then agreed to step aside.
Shakur was talking about the fight months before Herring fought Frampton, where he said his next fight is going to be with the winner or for a vacant if Herring vacates to move up (he assumed Herring would win). There are exchanges with Frampton and Shakur on twitter asking if he is willing to travel after he "wins".
Any mandatory for Floyd is going to rightfully activate it, you can't pass up that money.
You see the difference in your examples, Crawford had Danny G as #1 in the division and he turned down the money and passed on the mandatory. Crawford then beat Mean Machine as his mandatory. Shawn Porter became his mandatory and then stated live on his podcast that he was advised not to activate the mandatory. Yes I am a Crawford fan, but these are just facts and I would be willing to accept your "truth" if any of these guys said they petitioned for mandatory and they didn't get the fight.
I should give him a credit for fighting welterweights? he is a huge welterweight, lol.
And? Is there a new rule that says you have to move up just because some people think you’re too big for your weight class? Even though you have never missed weight?
Now if you’re arguing for rehydration clauses or not gaining more than 10 lbs the next day then that’s a different conversation
Wrong.
WBO just got done threatening Herring, fresh after his fight.
They've threatened Joshua and Eddie multiple times even when Usyk wasn't calling.
They have NEVER threatened Crawford. That's BS.
Shakur Stevenson was 126lb WBO champ and moved up to become Herrings mandatory. Shakur Stevenson agreed to step aside for Herrings voluntary defense against Frampton, so naturally that is the fight to be made next. No matter how you slice it, they filed to be mandatory. I won't argue about Crawford not being threatened, but I also haven't seen any of the #1 ranked WBO welters say that they put in to be elevated to mandatory. Maybe we will see it in the upcoming months now that there is less politics involved in the current WBO challenger.
Spence doesn't have a real avenue to ATG status. Dude is 30 years old and still hasnt become "the guy" in his lone weight class. Jermell would beat Eera and he's far too small to be effective at 160 or 168.
Spence's best skill is cutting weight and hes among the best at it
If he was smart he would have taken Floyd's hat and instigated a fight
He needs to fight Crawford first before any such talk. As for his discipline at making 147, that's a compliment to him. He's somewhat big, but he doesn't strike me as someone that struggles to make the weight in order to fight smaller men.
He fights at 147.
Or are you saying you will be just as dismissive of Crawford fighting Amir Khan ( essentially a 140 pound fighter) or Josh Taylor (unified at 140)?
Because if you're not willing to admit that Crawford is a "huge welterweight" too, then you're a hypocrite. The dude frequently talked about going up to 154 because it'd be easy for him.
Crawford/Khan is a bad comparison, Khan moved up to welter in 2014 and Crawford in 2017, so if Khan is "essentially" a 140 pound fighter, then so is Crawford. I agree though that Spence is a 147lb fighter and I think he still has the opportunity to be considered great.
Also, you mention WBO mandatory for Joshua vs Crawford, I'm not sure if you realized that Usyk's team filed the petition to be activated as mandatory in June of 2019 and it is just now being called for. The last two Mandatory's for the WBO in Welter were Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. For whatever reason, though I think it's politics/money, they did not file. So again, not comparable.
Has anyone looked at the fact that the 147 division is where the money is at? He is going to go to 154 and fight who to get the money he is getting at 147? I’m pretty sure there are a lot of 147 pounders sucking their stomachs in or putting rocks in their pockets to stay at 147.
He can make 147 comfortably and the his IBF title requires him to come in no more that 10lb over the limit the morning of the fight.
People need to pipe down. I guess there are many insecure midgets on here
I see it differently.
Him starting later means he's more preserved. It also means he wasn't set up to take dives early in his career.
But most importantly: Remember, Darnell Boone started late too. This is a guy who beat Adonis Stevenson and dropped Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev.
There's advantages to having started late if you're an awkward fighter. I think the only thing that can really hold Spence back now is his own ego. If he keeps that in check, he could follow the path of Canelo, but I think right now he's just trying to restore some sense of credibility to the welterweights because before him it was horribly broken. Kudos to him for that even if he doesn't fully unify. If I'm right and The Ring gets put up for Pacquiao/Spence, that would make it even better. We haven't had a Ring champion since Floyd in 2016. That's crazy.
Meanwhile, I'd like to see WBO get removed from IBHOF. They're playing games with Joshua that they're not playing with Crawford and it pisses me off.You may be onto something there because every fighter is different. Spence could be a late bloomer and if he takes care of himself and his body he could potentially make a serious run at all-time greatness well into his 40s. This kid is beast mode. The sky is the limit for him. Also, as far as the WBO and the IBHOF goes; That's Bob Arum's belt. So I wouldn't be surprised if he had slipped them an envelope under the table.