Floyd Mayweather Jr. prefers that former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr move up to 160 or 168 instead of 154 because he’s too big to make weight at junior middleweight and campaign in that division.
Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) looked underfed, scrawny & weak after dieting down to 147 lbs for his fight a mega-fight against Terence Crawford last month on July 29th, allowing the Nebraska native to take advantage of his withered, cadaverous state to batter him at will until the fight was stopped in the ninth.
Mayweather thinks that going up a mere seven pounds to 154 won’t make a bit of difference for Spence, as he’ll still be too sticklike, weak & wasted in appearance for him to possess the strength to defeat Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) in their rematch.
Floyd feels that 160 or 168 is where Spence needs to move to next. However, the 160 lb division is dead, devoid of popular fighters, and useless for a fighter of Spence’s caliber to move to.
The logical destination for Spence, who walks around at a solid 180+ lbs in between fights, is the 168 lb division, where he can take advantage of the high number of popular fighters, like Canelo Alvarez, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade and future stars, David Morrell Jr & Diego Pacheco.
“If I was training Spence or I was in his corner, I don’t think he should be fighting at 147 lbs at all. I don’t think he should be fighting at 154 lbs. I think he should be fighting at 160 lbs or 168 lbs,” said Floyd Mayweather Jr. to FightHype on what weight class he believes Errol Spence Jr. should be fighting at this career stage.
It’s not just Spence’s fight with Crawford where he looked atrophied, gaunt & weak in appearance. Errol had the same look in his two previous fights against Yordenis Ugas & Danny Garcia.
The problem was Spence put on a lot of weight after his car crash in late 2019, and he’s looked drained in his last three contests.
Spence might choose to ignore what Mayweather says and move to 154 anyway if only to take advantage of the big payday he’ll get for his rematch with Crawford in December.
If Spence is only thinking about cashing out, he’ll move to 154, look skin & bones again for his rematch with Crawford, lose badly, and then retire.
Assuming Spence agrees with Mayweather, he’ll move up to 168, be at full strength, and reinvent himself in this weight class. Again, at super middleweight, Spence can take advantage of the numerous opportunities for big fights, and he doesn’t have to retire like he would from a cash-out against Crawford.
