IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (22-0, 19 KOs) is targeting both WBA/WBC champion Keith “One Time” Thurman and WBO champion Manny Pacquiao in unification fights. Spence, 27, will be fighting in September in Dallas, Texas. Thurman is out of commission with an elbow injury, so there’s zero chance of him fighting Spence next. Pacquiao has a fight against Jeff Horn on July 2 against Jeff Horn in Brisbane. Australia. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum isn’t going to put him back inside the ring so quickly against a dangerous puncher like Spence.
Spence defeated Kell Brook by an 11th round TKO on May 27 in front of Brook’s own British boxing fans at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England. Brook suffered a socket injury to his left eye in round 7 or 8. The injury forced Brook to stop fighting in the 11th round. There’s been a lot of flak leveled at Brook for him choosing not to continue fighting. Some boxing fans think Brook quit like he did in his fight with Gennady Golovkin.
Brook’s eye injury has kept Spence from getting full credit for the win. Brook has already come out and said that the fight would have been different if not for him getting hurt.
“That’s someone I want too. He has a belt,” said Spence to Sway about WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. “He’s a Hall of Famer, so he’s definitely someone I want to put on my resume,” said Spence.
Spence’s next fight will need to be a defense of his International Boxing Federation title. He doesn’t know who he’ll be fighting next. He says he’ll be talking to his management to determine who it should be. Spence’s opponent will need to be selected quickly for him to be back inside the ring in September like he wants.
“I’d been off for 9 to 10 months, waiting for a fight with him,” said Spence about his fight with Brook. “I felt like I was off a little bit. I feel like my timing. There was a little ring rust there. So I give myself a B minus. I feel like I could have made it a lot easier than it was. I could have stopped him early. In the early going, I was reaching a lot. My timing was off. I saw things I would have capitalized on. It took me later on in the fight to do that. I feel like if I had fought 4 months after my last fight, it would have been a lot easier. I’d say it was probably my hardest fight I’ve had to date. Just being in that atmosphere with 27,000 Kell Brook fans, that can be mental depending on your mind. Kell Brook, he’s a big, strong, physical fighter. He’s a guy that can fight. He showed a lot of heart. He didn’t want to give up. I had to break his will. Before the fight, he said he was a monster puncher and that he’s going to knock me out. When he hit me, there was no snap or power to it. I felt it, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh man, if I get by him again, I’m going to be hurt. ‘I’ve been hit harder in sparring than in a fight,” said Spence.
Spence had to wait from August until May for him to get his title shot against Brook. Spence probably should have taken a stay busy fight before facing Brook, but he obviously didn’t want to risk losing out on his title shot if he’d suffered an injury.
“I still have so much I want to do,” said Spence. “I want to unify the division. I want to be the undisputed champion of the world. My main dream is to become the undisputed champion of the world. We still have Keith Thurman out there. That’s someone I want to fight for the belts. Pacquiao has another one too. There’s still work to be done out there. Me personally, I don’t know why people discount him. Manny Pacquiao is still a top 3 fighter in the welterweight division. Even if he’s not the same fighter he once was, he’s quick, he’s fast, he can punch, and he’s explosive. He’s awkward, so I think Manny Pacquiao can beat 95 percent of the welterweights out there. I think he’s still a good fighter. Right now, Keith Thurman, he’s just had elbow surgery, so he’s out for 6 to 7 months. So it won’t be Keith Thurman. Manny Pacquiao is trying to fight right now. Jeff Horn, it does seem like a waste of time, but he’s big in Australia. It’s a money fight. I guess Jeff Horn was next in line. Hopefully, it’ll happen,” said Spence about a fight between him and Pacquiao. “I don’t really know because we’re on different sides. He’s on the other side of the pond. I’m on this side.”
Pacquiao is probably not going to be able a fight that can be made against Spence. If Pacquiao wanted that fight badly enough, he could insist on it. But that’s not been Pacquiao’s style. His promoter Bob Arum calls most of the shots when it comes to the guys that he faces. Spence would be someone that is out of keeping with the fighters that Arum usually matches Pacquiao against. Spence is in his prime and he’s a very good fighter. The right there probably eliminates as a possibility for the Filipino star.
“You’ll see me fight soon,” said Spence. I’ll fight in September, fighting in Dallas. We can get that too [a fight against Danny Garcia]. With that, I’d step off to the side, use angles, and don’t come in a straight line,” said Spence about a fight against Thurman. “So he can’t time me. Basically, I’ll be patient. I’ll wait for him to throw one of his wide shots. I’ll catch and shot basically,” said Spence.
Spence will eventually get all the big names to fight him in the welterweight division. Garcia vs. Spence would be an excellent fight for the future, but it’s not happening yet. Spence’s next fight will be against one of the contenders in the IBF’s rankings.