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As great as he was in winning three welterweight belts, filling an NFL stadium, engaging in fight-of-the-year caliber bouts and returning from a horrific car crash, Errol Spence Jr. has been out of the ring following his worst loss yet and his return date is unknown.
“You’ve got to take time off to get everything settled. The thing is, it’s been more than a year. How much more time can he afford to take off because of a legal situation and health concerns?” asked Spence’s former fight-of-the-year foe, ex-welterweight champion Shawn Porter.
On ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” Porter counseled the 34-year-old Spence (28-1, 22 knockouts) as he navigates his next steps toward an apparent return fight at junior-middleweight against the division’s World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization champion, Sebastian Fundora.
Fundora is currently waiting out a WBO order to fight three-division champion Terence Crawford, who put forth a destructive beatdown on Spence one year ago this week by knocking down the Texan three times before finishing him by TKO in the ninth.
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) would like to parlay his victory toward a shot at super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, who Wednesday announced his next fight, with unbeaten Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14.
Amid the delay for those events to settle, Spence hasn’t yet named a replacement trainer for his longtime cornerman Derrick James. The pair filed opposing lawsuits against each other after James said he was shorted his proper cuts from the Crawford fight and other pay-per-view bouts.
“It’s kind of a now-or-never situation to me – get back in the ring now or you’re flirting with never getting back in the ring,” Porter said. ‘He’s already taken time off from the worst fight of his life, which I’m certain led to multiple worse days of his life.
“He has a lot to come back from. If I was to advise him, I’d say, ‘Take the fight now.’ Compartmentalize as much as you can, allow your legal people to deal with (those) issues, focus on Fundora and make the best of that experience. He’s got to get back in the ring.”
Porter and Spence experienced a gritty battle in 2019 in Los Angeles, and Porter recalled a legendary story his father-trainer, Kenny Porter, told him about Spence fighting a Russian as an amateur before the 2012 Olympics.
“Really rough first round, and my dad thought Errol was skilled enough to not just stand there and fight the guy, so my dad tells Errol, ‘Take a step back, circle the ring, work off the jab. You’ve got more skills than this guy,’” Shawn Porter recounted.
“Errol says, ‘No, Coach, I gotta fight him. I gotta make him feel me.’
“For someone who has that mentality … all you want to do is fight, anyway. Get you in shape, get you a game plan and go get ‘em.”
Fellow “Deep Waters” analyst and former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi said Fundora’s defensive liabilities make this a match Spence can win if he has overcome the effects of the loss and his 2019 Ferrari crash, which Spence addressed with BoxingScene’s Tris Dixon last month, saying he returned from the crash as “a negative Spence … .
“You’ve got to worry about (boxing effects) because if you don’t, you could be a victim, too. I definitely worry about it, have check-ups all the time and always monitor my brain and get scans and all type of stuff just to make sure I’m on point,” Spence said. “A lot of people take (the crash) lightly just because I came back and fought and all that but that’s serious stuff. It’s not too many people that go high speed in a Ferrari and get thrown from a Ferrari, land on solid concrete and still be here to talk today, still survive, still be coherent and everything.
“That was traumatic and a brutal experience that I went through. People take it lightly because I’m still fighting and still talk shit and all that but there was some serious stuff there. It was definitely serious.”
Porter said following a tough losses, some fighters come back looking gun-shy.
“I want to see Errol Spence Jr. be Errol Spence Jr. – you have seen evidence of (the amateur fight against the Russian) in everything he’s done since,” Porter said. “The best thing he can do is come back and find out if he can do it.
“If you can’t get up in the ring and be that dog, in your face, it’s probably safe to say you’re no longer that guy, and, for Errol, if he’s no longer that guy – and we saw some that with Terence when he was taking shots, then it’s probably time to wrap it up.”