Errol Spence denies being hurt by Mayweather in sparring

By Will Arons - 01/04/2023 - Comments

Errol Spence Jr took to social media to reject that he’d been hurt by Floyd Mayweather Jr during a sparring session many, many years ago when the superstar was still in the game.

Mayweather’s former pad-holder Nate Jones claimed on his Youtube channel to have watched Floyd buckle Spence during a sparking session after he encouraged him to start fighting harder during one of their sparring sessions.

Jones’ comments about Spence being hurt is the first time anyone has said anything about Errol being hurt during his sparring with Mayweather.

Before Jones spoke up, the general consensus is that a young Spence had given Mayweather massive problems in sparring with his power and pressure.

Mayweather wasn’t much of a puncher at welterweight, so it’s difficult to take what his former pad holder Nate Jones says seriously.

“I try not to speak on sparring but great work, a hell of an experience never buckled he cap,” said Errol Spence Jr on Twitter, responding Nate Jones, the former pad holder for Floyd Mayweather Jr, saying that he had hurt him in sparring many years ago. 

“It was very intense, and Errol at the time was trying to prove himself that he was a dominant force in boxing,” said Nate Jones on his Youtube channel, discussing the sparring that took place a decade ago between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Errol Spence Jr.

“Mayweather was on his last two legs out the game. One of the fights that Floyd had scheduled, he used Errol Spence as a sparring partner for one of the southpaw fights that Floyd had.

“Errol was giving Floyd some good work. There were some intense moments. He was hitting Floyd with some good clean shots. Floyd was very smart. He knew what he was doing.

YouTube video

“He never hurt Floyd. He got Floyd’s attention. I seen him get Floyd’s attention, but he never rattled Floyd like Floyd rattled him one day,” Jones continued.

“A lot of people were going around saying that Floyd was getting his butt whooped in sparring [by Spence]. Floyd was handling him well, and I had to tell him to stop doing. I jumped on top of the ring, and I went off on Floyd in front of everyone. I went crazy.

“I said, ‘why are you jumping back so big with this dude [Spence]. You’re building his confidence up. You’re making all these moves and moving back real big. Quit making big moves jumping back.

“‘When you’re making him miss, you’re doing it so big that you can’t respond. You can’t deal with him like that. Calm down. Stay in the middle and stay relaxed. Start shooting shots up the middleweight because his inside is open.’

Floyd hit him with an uppercut and hurt him. Floyd almost knocked him out,” Jones said about Mayweather supposedly hurting Spence. “Nobody ever seen Floyd rattled in training camp or buckled, whereas I’ve seen Errol Spence buckled by Floyd Mayweather.

“Floyd wasn’t buckled during the sparring session, but Errol gave him some of the best work I’ve ever seen. I jumped up on the ring, and I told Floyd to calm down, stay small up the middle, hit him with some shots up the middle; and Floyd hit him with an uppercut and buckled him. Floyd had him knocked out, and the bell rang.

“When Floyd started calming down, the work cut better, but Errol gave Floyd some good work better than I’ve ever seen. He hit Floyd with some good clean shots, and Floyd handled them very well. He never buckled Floyd, but Floyd buckled Errol Spence with an uppercut right up the middle.

“It was good work, though, and Floyd needed that. It built Errol’s confidence that he could give Floyd some good work, and it put him on a pedestal that he was a bad mother f***ker, which he was,” said Jones about the sparring between Mayweather & Spence that took place roughly around 2003.