How’s that for a blunt force headline?
I warned people that the re-born Boxing Tribune was not aiming to be your derpy dad’s fake-professional CONTENT farm.
Anyway, I said what I said and the headline to this article says it all. If you were one of those people jumping on Errol Spence post-Terence Crawford loss, kicking him when he was down, and then following his shadow around, trying to diminish or destroy his legacy as a fighter, you are, indeed, a bitch. And if his recent social media revelation that he underwent cataract surgery is currently sending you into a tizzy…yep…bitch.
Spence is low, low down the list of fighters who deserve derision. As a matter of fact, the man ticks off many of the boxes when it comes to what the critics say they want in a fighter.
Spence unified three of the four welterweight belts, fought most of the best near the top of his weight class, and eventually gave fans the fight they wanted with Crawford, when he absolutely did not have to.
And when he lost the big unification bout, he took the “L” like a man, offered up no excuses, disappeared from the public, and gave all the spotlight to Crawford. That’s class right there. If this brief video clip of him after cataract surgery six months after the loss and a social media admission that he “didn’t live exactly like a boxer for the most part” sounds like deplorable excuse making, than I not-so-humbly suggest that your problem with Errol Spence is a “you” problem and not a “him” problem.
Those who have a memory beyond the last big fight will recall a time when Spence, himself, was an overlooked or “avoided” entity. As I wrote previously:
“Back in early 2018, when Danny Garcia stopped Brandon Rios, three of the top four active welterweights in the world at the time engaged in a round robin of trash talk and calling each other out, with newly-crowned IBF champ Spence being conspicuously left out of the conversation.
Shawn Porter stormed the ring and invaded Garcia’s Showtime post-fight interview in angry pursuit of next dibs. A few minutes later, Porter and Keith Thurman would get into a heated exchange behind the scenes (captured by Fight Hype) over when Thurman would be ready to honor his WBC-mandated return bout with Porter.
In the span of just about thirty minutes, Garcia called out Thurman, Porter called out Garcia, Porter called out Thurman, and Thurman agreed that, after a tune-up, he’d be ready for either Porter or Garcia.
But nobody said a word about Spence, despite Spence– like Garcia, Porter, and Thurman– fighting under the PBC banner.
If it weren’t for a fan accosting Thurman in the lobby of the Mandalay Bay that evening with a “Stop ducking Errol” taunt (captured on video by Dontae’s Boxing Nation), Spence’s name would not have been brought up the entire evening.“
But Spence didn’t bitch and pout and blame everyone else for keeping him down. He made the right business moves to go along with his boxing moves, got the fights he needed to build his legacy, and earned his way to stardom.
Admirable, right? It should be.
I get it, though. Spence is with the “wrong” boxing company (PBC) and a certain sect of devoted critics, who like to call others a cult (but engage in very cultish behavior themselves), only care about their “side” winning this weirdo culture war they’ve been waging against an “evil” boxing company and its media-averse founder for more than eight years.
Errol Spence, though, needs to be left off the carpet bombing list. There’s nothing shameful or disgraceful about the way the man has conducted himself as a pro. And, other than a poor decision when it comes to taking his sportscar for a spin in October, 2019 and a few nights of apparently tipsy, but harmless, public partying, he’s been all good.
But, of course, the serial critics will keep being who they are.
Just let it be known, however, that those who disrespect Spence for no good reason might also be idiots, hypocrites, and, most assuredly, not the kind of “real” boxing fans they claim to be.
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