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LOS ANGELES — As indifferent as Errol Spence Jr. may seem to be at times, he’s keenly aware that he’s on the cusp of greatness.
And if everything goes according to plan when he steps into the ring with WBC welterweight champion Shawn Porter on Saturday, the 29-year-old IBF titlist will be recognized as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and perhaps be on the road to something even bigger.
Mayweather is the name that made Spence an urban legend. Fresh off his 2012 Olympic run where he came home emptyhanded, Spence decided to turn pro and went 4-0 before being slated to face Brandon Hoskins on May 3, 2013. Around the same time, Mayweather was actively looking for sparring partners to help him prepare for his May 4 showdown with Robert Guerrero.
With their schedules lining up, Mayweather invited Spence to join his camp. But Mayweather found quickly that Spence wasn’t going to be another body he could lay to waste. On media day ahead of the Guerrero fight, Mayweather arrived sporting a nice shiner that he attempted to explain away. But legend has it that Spence was giving Mayweather hell inside of the ring and lumped up the undefeated pound-for-pound great.
Anybody else would wear the session like a badge of honor. But not Spence.
“I wasn’t thinking about how big it might be for my career,” Spence shrugs. “I was focused on preparing for my own fight. I was just learning from the best in the business. I wasn’t out to get any headlines. I don’t talk about what happens in sparring. I’m not a clout chaser. I really just didn’t care.”
But everyone else did. And by the time Spence made his Showtime television debut against Ronald Cruz in June of 2014, the boxing public wanted to see what the man who touched up Floyd Mayweather was all about.
And if everything goes according to plan when he steps into the ring with WBC welterweight champion Shawn Porter on Saturday, the 29-year-old IBF titlist will be recognized as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and perhaps be on the road to something even bigger.
Mayweather is the name that made Spence an urban legend. Fresh off his 2012 Olympic run where he came home emptyhanded, Spence decided to turn pro and went 4-0 before being slated to face Brandon Hoskins on May 3, 2013. Around the same time, Mayweather was actively looking for sparring partners to help him prepare for his May 4 showdown with Robert Guerrero.
With their schedules lining up, Mayweather invited Spence to join his camp. But Mayweather found quickly that Spence wasn’t going to be another body he could lay to waste. On media day ahead of the Guerrero fight, Mayweather arrived sporting a nice shiner that he attempted to explain away. But legend has it that Spence was giving Mayweather hell inside of the ring and lumped up the undefeated pound-for-pound great.
Anybody else would wear the session like a badge of honor. But not Spence.
“I wasn’t thinking about how big it might be for my career,” Spence shrugs. “I was focused on preparing for my own fight. I was just learning from the best in the business. I wasn’t out to get any headlines. I don’t talk about what happens in sparring. I’m not a clout chaser. I really just didn’t care.”
But everyone else did. And by the time Spence made his Showtime television debut against Ronald Cruz in June of 2014, the boxing public wanted to see what the man who touched up Floyd Mayweather was all about.
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