You can add Barry McGuigan, the former world featherweight champion, to the list of boxing experts who feel Errol Spence should have a serious think about hanging up the gloves following the battering “The Truth” took in his big fight with Terence Crawford. Like Stephen A. Smith, Teddy Atlas and plenty of others, Irish legend McGuigan was shocked at what he saw in the Crawford-Spence welterweight clash – McGuigan most shocked by the lack of punch resistance Spence showed during those nine one-sided rounds.
Writing in his usual slot for The Mirror newspaper, McGuigan spoke of his own career, of how he retired at age 28, this because he “wanted to be lucid in my sixties.” McGuigan is one of the rare few to have got out on his own terms, damage-free. “The Clones Cyclone” says he would like to see Spence add his name to the short list while there is still time.
“I’m worried for Errol Spence,” McGuigan writes in his column. “I’m not a doctor or scientist but I have been in boxing for 50 years and I know when I see a guy lose his punch resistance. The way that Terence Crawford was able to dismantle him in Las Vegas was frightening from Spence’s point of view. It didn’t look like Spence in there. That’s how good Crawford was. He made a great fighter look like an amateur. And Spence knew it. He was beaten mentally. That doesn’t go away.
“You can’t recapture your ability to take a shot. If that code is cracked in your brain and nervous system, if that has been broken, it is not coming back. The signs as far as I’m concerned were very worrying. I believe he should consider walking away rather than going up seven pounds to take on Crawford again.”
Some powerful words from McGuigan, I think you will agree. It’s true, if ANY fighter loses the ability to hold a shot, to take a good punch to the head, they are pretty much finished. You could even say they are completely finished. And this is how Spence looked last Saturday, like a fighter who couldn’t take a good shot, let alone a combination. Is there really anyone out there who feels Spence can improve on his performance, up at 154 pounds? If anything, in light of the damage he took in the Crawford fight (look at some of the graphic stills of Spence taking a hard blow, his features deformed as his brain is rattled), it would be even worse in a rematch.
That said, it’s entirely possible Crawford would be able to take Spence out quickly in a return fight.
A second prolonged beating is the last thing Spence needs, and Barry McGuigan is far from the only person saying so.