By Jim Calfa: Coach Roy Jones Jr. says Errol Spence Jr. needs at least two tune-ups to mentally and physically prepare for his rematch with Terence Crawford at 154.
Jones Jr. thinks Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) needs time to adjust his game and get comfortable with the new weight class at junior middleweight before tackling a tough second fight with Crawford (40 -0, 31 KO).
Crawford is okay to wait for the rematch, he will allow Spence to make some adjustments before fighting. In the long run, Crawford will make more money waiting for Spence to have a few wins under his belt, as fans will believe he has a chance to win if he looks good.
If Crawford insists on scrapping the rematch with Spence in December, the PPV buys will be disappointing as fans will view it as a mismatch.
With the punishment Spence suffered in his ninth-round TKO loss to Crawford on July 29, it wouldn’t be good for him to take the rematch with Terence in December, as he talked about.
What’s unclear is whether the rematch clause in the contract for the Spence-Crawford debut has a deadline for its execution. If so, Spence may have no choice but to fight Crawford soon.
Crawford seems to have only one guy in mind, undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo. That probably won’t happen because Charlo goes up to 168, and if he plays his cards right and beats Canelo Alvarez in September, he won’t want to go back to his old weight class to fight Crawford.
Jermell will be in the big leagues with a win over Canelo. Let’s hope Crawford didn’t put all his eggs in one basket by mistakenly assuming that Charlo will return to 154 to defend his IBF, WBA and WBC titles against him.
Spence needs two tune-ups
“As a coach, I would have Errol checked to make sure he’s neurologically ok, and if his mind [brain] and his body is fine, so we’ll be looking at a 154 fight, but we need time to make some adjustments because we haven’t been forced to make any adjustments in our career,” Roy Jones Jr. told Fight Hub TV, on whether Errol Spence Jr should jump straight into a rematch with Terence Crawford in December.
Spence will have to fight two good junior middleweights for him to make the proper adjustments to his game. It won’t work if he’s put with no-hopers designed to make him look good.
Also, what’s critical is that Spence gets his weight under control and doesn’t get into the 190-200 pound region again. That’s too much weight for Spence to take off for him to have a chance of beating Crawford at 154.
If Spence insists on power-feeding, he should forget about the rematch with Crawford and move to 168 or 175, where he doesn’t need to drop a lot of weight in camp.
“So if we’re going to make some adjustments, we’re going to take some time and go work on different things,” Jones Jr said. fights between us to prepare for the rematch.
“So if we can work and get some fights to the extent that we can work on our other tools in our toolbox that we haven’t used, that gives us a chance to come back and have a much better fight.
“Secondly, we don’t have to go that far down in weight at 154. So maybe we won’t have to be so slow with the weight because we know Errol has been killing himself for years now to make 147.
Errol needs a different mindset
“Last but not least. The way we go into the fight has to be different. You have to go into the fight with a mindset: ‘We’re the best pound for pound, but we’re also fighting one of the best pound for book. ‘When you know that, it changes the whole landscape,” Jones Jr.
It’s easier said than done for Spence to change his mindset for the rematch with Crawford because it takes time, entails a lot of activity, and Spence has none of that going for him if the revenge clause has a short duration.
Spence had fought twice in the past four years before fighting Crawford. Part of that was due to injuries from two car crashes and an eye problem, but he wasted a lot of time intentionally sitting on the sidelines.
“Weight is not what will make the difference. That’s why I told you those three things,” Jones Jr said. “All those things have to happen because if he comes in and fights Bud the way he is now, he can fight him at 154, he can fight him at 165. None of that will matter.
“I’m a guy who says it with a lot of confidence because I know. I fought opponents from 153 to 226. Before I lost weight going back down [from heavyweight to 175], it didn’t matter who you put in front of me. They weren’t winning.
Crawford didn’t take any chances
“So Bud never having had this drastic weight loss, never had this drastic car accident or anything like that. Anything you put in front of him, he’s going to tear it down,” Jones Jr said.
In criticism of Crawford, he did not push the limits of his career by taking risks. He was content to play it safe, not interested in gaining weight to broaden his horizons, increase his popularity, and earn more money.
He was content to ply his trade at 147, mostly fighting people and missing. The reason Crawford was shunned is that he failed to grow his popularity by going further in promoting his fights, and he didn’t take chances by going 154, 160, and 168 for face the biggest names.
The ambition wasn’t there on his part, which is why he was trapped, dumbfounded in an alien scheme of nothingness at 147 and wasted so much time.
