Does Spence deserve any criticism

[Luckybattles]

People have been praising this guy up and down as if he beat up Usyk at a catchweight. That’s all I hear. Reality is that he had a much smaller guy in front of him who posed no threat and fought in retreat during the last 9 rounds. Despite this, he was never really able to truly assert himself as you would expect a truly great fighter to do against a much smaller great fighter. In my opinion, Spence failed to make a statement in this high profile fight and really failed to capture the imagination of the boxing world. Does anyone feel that he should have despensed García like Frazier desspensed bob foster, like Hopkins despensed Trinidad, or like canelo despensed khan to really have earned all this praise.

[Onetimeonly]

Pretty poor analogies.

[lazboy]

a much smaller guy in front of him who posed no threat and fought in retreat during the last 9 rounds.

Despite this, he was never really able to truly assert himself In my opinion, Spence failed to make a statement in this high profile fight and really failed to capture the imagination of the boxing world.

Don't agree with this at all!

Boxing fans are brutal. You'd hope fighters don't pay attention to this nonsense.

[Best Coast]

Because he was facing a guy coming up 2 divisions Spence was basically in a no-win situation as far as any opportunity to boost his reputation. Nonetheless he won all 12 rounds on the cards of all 3 judges (as well as any honest, knowledgable observer).

It wasnt just a size advantage but Spence proved he had the better boxing skills. If he had KOd Mikey, haters like you would still find some reason to bellyache about him.

[jamamb]

a bit quick to throw around #hater? i dont agree with op but i think someone cud think what he does without #hating spence

[Best Coast]

One man's hater is another man's hero. We rarely agree and I dont expect that to change...

[Ruthless-RKO]

He showed great boxing skill

[SFW]

I think the biggest factor as far as not getting the KO is the lil guy was defensively sound and 100% focused on surviving.. I didn't see a point past the 3rd or 4th round where Mikey was even going for or taking the necessary risk to actually win. When your opponent poses little threat, and his goal is to merely disengage and survive, it's hard to stop someone like that. Yeah it's a lil disappointing, but they could have stopped it around the 10th, we'd get a boring mercy stoppage that wouldn't satisfy the naysayers either I suspect. Still say he couldn't put a lightweight down.. No fighter is above criticism, but it seems more appropriate to send it the other way in this fight. Garcia lied for months about his skills, the effort, what he was gonna do, and every bit of it was proven false yet he cashes in big time anyway. And probably will again. That seemed more offensive to me than Errol not getting the stoppage.

[tiny_acres]

Nothing to complain about a good little man got soundly beaten by a better big man.

[ironbeard]

I think the biggest factor as far as not getting the KO is the lil guy was defensively sound and 100% focused on surviving.. I didn't see a point past the 3rd or 4th round where Mikey was even going for or taking the necessary risk to actually win. When your opponent poses little threat, and his goal is to merely disengage and survive, it's hard to stop someone like that. Yeah it's a lil disappointing, but they could have stopped it around the 10th, we'd get a boring mercy stoppage that wouldn't satisfy the naysayers either I suspect. Still say he couldn't put a lightweight down.. No fighter is above criticism, but it seems more appropriate to send it the other way in this fight. Garcia lied for months about his skills, the effort, what he was gonna do, and every bit of it was proven false yet he cashes in big time anyway. And probably will again. That seemed more offensive to me than Errol not getting the stoppage.

X2

[oogiebe]

One can always find something to criticize, but Spence did everything he was supposed to do and looked good doing it. No need to go for the KO and risk possible exposure when he was in 100% control of the fight.

[kbackup408]

We weren't complaining about this fight before it took place - Spence deserves credit I wasn't fully convinced by him thought he "could" be outboxed at WW - currently no one outboxes him at 147!

[Onetimeonly]

One can always find something to criticize, but Spence did everything he was supposed to do and looked good doing it. No need to go for the KO and risk possible exposure when he was in 100% control of the fight.

He did go for the ko.

[SenorPipino]

He's the best welterweight in the world.

He just won every second of every round against an unbeaten P4P lightweight champion.

Fans love to nitpick. So he didn't win by KO. Even Foreman and Shavers had to go the distance on occasion.

Garcia knows how to fight and how to protect himself. It's very difficult to KO guys like that, especially if they're more focused on survival than winning.

Getting the W is what's important. Spence did that emphatically.

Spence is a special fighter. But as usual, he'll be more appreciated when he's gone.

[Enlightened-One]

Errol Spence Jr’s resume isn’t great and the main reasons for this are Bob Arum making no attempt to initiate contract negotiations with Al Haymon for the Crawford fight (due to his belief about the contest needing to be marinated), coupled with the PBC head honchos not organising bouts with his biggest name fellow stablemates.

And to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if Spence Jr. deserves a lot of credit for his high-reward very low-risk bout with Mikey Garcia either. He could have made a statement and bulldozed and stopped his smaller opponent, but instead he played it relatively safe. It was still a decent performance though.

I don’t necessarily agree with people believing that Spence Jr. out-boxed Garcia either, via the use of his southpaw jab, because Mikey’s shorter arms prevented them from connecting. The challenger was always out of reach, whereas the champion was in punching distance, which I feel is part and parcel of the overall size advantage that Errol possessed.

I still think that Errol Spence Jr. is the best 147lb-er on the planet, with Terence Crawford being the only person capable of claiming this moniker.

Does Spence Jr. deserve to receive criticism? Well no fighter is perfect, and no human should be immune from criticism either.

And this includes Spence Jr., who I feel is really impressive, despite his poor resume, coupled with his “safe” performance against Garcia.

[Syntax Error]

It depends what side of the fence you sit on.

Spence completely outclassed a great, but admittedly smaller fighter, but yet, that isn't enough for some people.

Presumably if he had bulldozed & stopped Garcia, some people might have said that Spence was a bully & the victory meant little?

If you feel Spence needs criticism, then by all means, criticise away, but some people don't think he does & their views are just as valid.

[Luckybattles]

One can always find something to criticize, but Spence did everything he was supposed to do and looked good doing it. No need to go for the KO and risk possible exposure when he was in 100% control of the fight.
[/quote”



I beg to differ. People aren’t paying $75 to watch a little guy retreat all night and the big guy follow him around with no real intent to give fans the minimal athletic drama for their money.

[oogiebe]

One can always find something to criticize, but Spence did everything he was supposed to do and looked good doing it. No need to go for the KO and risk possible exposure when he was in 100% control of the fight.

I beg to differ. People aren’t paying $75 to watch a little guy retreat all night and the big guy follow him around with no real intent to give fans the minimal athletic drama for their money.

That's your personal view and I respect it. I can appreciate Spence's approach to the fight and don't always need the ko. I'm sure a lot of folks agree with you.

[Luckybattles]

Errol Spence Jr’s resume isn’t great and the main reasons for this are Bob Arum making no attempt to initiate contract negotiations with Al Haymon for the Crawford fight (due to his belief about the contest needing to be marinated), coupled with the PBC head honchos not organising bouts with his biggest name fellow stablemates.

And to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if Spence Jr. deserves a lot of credit for his high-reward very low-risk bout with Mikey Garcia either. He could have made a statement and bulldozed and stopped his smaller opponent, but instead he played it relatively safe. It was still a decent performance though.

I don’t necessarily agree with people believing that Spence Jr. out-boxed Garcia either, via the use of his southpaw jab, because Mikey’s shorter arms prevented them from connecting. The challenger was always out of reach, whereas the champion was in punching distance, which I feel is part and parcel of the overall size advantage that Errol possessed.

I still think that Errol Spence Jr. is the best 147lb-er on the planet, with Terence Crawford being the only person capable of claiming this moniker.

Does Spence Jr. deserve to receive criticism? Well no fighter is perfect, and no human should be immune from criticism either.

And this includes Spence Jr., who I feel is really impressive, despite his poor resume, coupled with his “safe” performance against Garcia.
[/quote





I agree that spence is a great fighter and maybe top lbl but I think the complacency of fans and their unwillingness to ask for more is
Resulting in more fights that look like Thurman vs Garcia and fewer fights that resemble Leonard vs hearns.

[ironbeard]

Errol Spence Jr’s resume isn’t great and the main reasons for this are Bob Arum making no attempt to initiate contract negotiations with Al Haymon for the Crawford fight (due to his belief about the contest needing to be marinated), coupled with the PBC head honchos not organising bouts with his biggest name fellow stablemates.

And to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if Spence Jr. deserves a lot of credit for his high-reward very low-risk bout with Mikey Garcia either. He could have made a statement and bulldozed and stopped his smaller opponent, but instead he played it relatively safe. It was still a decent performance though.

I don’t necessarily agree with people believing that Spence Jr. out-boxed Garcia either, via the use of his southpaw jab, because Mikey’s shorter arms prevented them from connecting. The challenger was always out of reach, whereas the champion was in punching distance, which I feel is part and parcel of the overall size advantage that Errol possessed.

I still think that Errol Spence Jr. is the best 147lb-er on the planet, with Terence Crawford being the only person capable of claiming this moniker.

Does Spence Jr. deserve to receive criticism? Well no fighter is perfect, and no human should be immune from criticism either.

And this includes Spence Jr., who I feel is really impressive, despite his poor resume, coupled with his “safe” performance against Garcia.

I agree that spence is a great fighter and maybe top lbl but I think the complacency of fans and their unwillingness to ask for more is
Resulting in more fights that look like Thurman vs Garcia and fewer fights that resemble Leonard vs hearns.

Hearns was in control and let it slip away.

Spence was in control and pounded away until the end.

The best comparison to Spence v Mikey was someone bringing up Donaire v Narvaez. Very similar. A mollusk in its shell can be very difficult to extract.

[jamamb]

i kinda agree with enlightened one about the size -outboxed thing

a lot of ppl saying this proves errols more skilled, better boxer then mikey etc.....but you cant just toss aside a size different like that in a 'boxing' match. reach, height, natural size and strength all play into being able to outbox a guy. rob helenius could just stand back and jab at a guy like jf eastrada but hes not a better p4p boxer

errols a great fighter though, a very refined and powerful pressure fighter who could move up to 160 and win titles. he could beat ggg, jacobs, etc imo

[gilgamesh]

To simply answer the question. As of this moment I'd say no, he deserves no real criticism.

[greg]

..wasn't it Mikey who challenged Spence saying he wanted to show he was a badass..Spence just picked up the gauntlet and basically took him apart..no criticism on my part..

[skanksta]

Mikey is an elite-level fighter, with elite-level skills. He’d completely given up trying to win, just to make it to the final bell.

It’s very difficult to get a stoppage in that situation- even with a size advantage.
No criticism whatsoever.

[Oiky]

Spence looked quality.body work was brilliant