IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr feels there are too many belts and thinks the overall effect is the watering down of the sport as he heads into his undisputed fight against champ Terence Crawford on July 29th.
Spence (28-0, 22 KO) doesn’t offer any alternatives to what we have now, with the four alphabet-sanctioning bodies having an iron hold on the sport.
We do know that when you have champions like Spence & Crawford fighting just once a year, the sport would be awfully boring if there were just one champion per division.
Contenders in the 147 pound rankings can see their primes disappear waiting for a title shot against champions like this.
Even highly touted guys like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is having his own career put in the deep freeze, being frozen out without an opportunity to fight for a title this year, just so Crawford & Spence can fight twice and get two paydays while they lockout the contenders.
That’s the real problem. Many belt holders make so much money that they can afford to sit for a year to two years without fighting.
Oftentimes, the champions are just sitting idle, waiting for a killing in a mega-fight against a super popular fighter, and that can take a year or more.
The champions become so spoiled don’t want to take risky fights, and they dodge their mandatory challengers until the sanctioning body forces them.
The sanctioning bodies are seemingly afraid to force a start to makee mandatory defenses because they don’t want them to vacate their belts and lose out on the massive sanctioning fees they collect.
Errol Spence: “I feel like there are too many belts in boxing. It’s watering down boxing,” said Errol Spence Jr during Wednesday’s virtual press conference.
Brian Custer: “Looking at this fight, what do you think it’ll come down to? You’re both highly skilled, and both punchers will knock you out. When you both come into the ring, what do you think this fight is basically going to boil down to?”
Spence: “I think it’s going to boil down to grit, patience, focus, and who’s body & mind can withstand the most punishment, but go through different highs & lows in the fight because I believe in the fight, it’s going to be highs & lows.
“We’re both going to pick it up and whoever can adapt and whoever can impose their style on their opponent, that’s who’s going to win the fight.”
Terence Crawford: “I don’t worry about it. When you talk about size, you talk about Jeff Horn. They said Jeff Horn was one of the biggest welterweights other than Spence. When you talk about size, you talk about Shawn Porter.
“Me and Shawn Porter were in the amateurs together. I was at 132, and he was at 165. [Jose] Benavidez was a big welterweight. I’m always fighting big welterweight, so that’s nothing new. I’m always the smaller guy. Even when I was at 140, I was the smaller guy. When I was at 135, I was tall, but I was the smaller guy.
“Being the smaller guy never made me thing, ‘Oh, this guy is too big.”
