Derrick James Dismisses Crawford’s Power, Spence’s Intentions And Jermall Charlo’s Mindset

Derrick James has dismissed Terence Crawford’s power at welterweight in light of his fighter, Errol Spence Jr.’s upcoming bout with the WBO champion. 

Spence and Crawford face each other in the biggest fight of the year on July 29th, 2023, as the winner will become the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era.

And during the course of this process, the two fighters will put their undefeated records on the line. 

The narrative entering into the fight is that Spence’s volume punching will have to stand up to Crawford’s ability to switch stances and counterpunch effectively.

Although that may be the case, Crawford has stopped all of his opponents at welterweight. Not only that, but in the process of doing so, Bud has stopped them in more impressive fashion.

A win over Kell Brook in the fourth round was a lot quicker than Spence, as it took the ‘Truth’ 11 rounds. Meanwhile, Crawford stopped Shawn Porter, something which Spence could not do.

That went on to show that Crawford’s power does carry though at welterweight. And yet, James dismissed the notion that it was anything extraordinary.

“Who the f— he fought, man? Whatchu talking about, man? Who he fought? Who were those guys [that he knocked out]? Everybody can punch.

“It’s easier to beat guys that are lesser. That doesn’t mean anything. He’s fighting guys who can’t, you know what I mean?” James

Much in the same way, Spence cannot be underestimated. Despite his two car crashes, one of which resulted in his retina being detached, the ‘Truth’ responded in style.

Victories over Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugas showed that Spence was unaffected by his tribulations.

Not only that, but Mikey Garcia was equally undefeated before he faced Spence. But as the bout would turn out, the ‘Truth’ beat the Mexican comprehensively for 12 rounds. 

With that being said, Spence has made his intentions clear over what he was looking to do with his opponent. 

“There were a lot of relevant people in the sport who were saying what Mikey [Garcia] was going to do to me, and I didn’t get it at that time and proved everyone wrong. It’s the same thing I’m going to do on fight night on the 29th. 

“I’m going to do the same thing I always do. Punish my opponent. I’m going to put on a great performance like I always do. It’s going to be entertaining,” Spence

Outside of Spence, James’ other fighter Jermall Charlo was recently on social media addressing why his brother, Jermell Charlo, was facing Canelo Alvarez instead of him.

The Mexican was initially linked with Jermall only for the latter not to be ready given that he had been out of the ring for two years. And as part of that process, Jermall has been struggling with personal and mental health issues in his life.

Although Jermell will take his place, Jermall is still targeting the fight. And yet, Jermall’s speech on social media raised concerns due to the fact the WBC middleweight champion appeared to have slurred speech.

“All right, so I’m going to tell y’all the real s**t.  Yeah, I signed the contract with Canelo too. I gave it to my brother first, so we both make money.

“Is y’all crazy? We both going to make money, but if I can give it to my brother first until, I guess, get right because they so-called I gotta get right.

“I got get right. I ain’t tripping, but as long as I get a fight with [Canelo]. “Y’all want some psychedelics? Y’all mad at me because I gave the fight to my brother? Let my brother fight. My brother got to go up two weight classes,” Jermall

Nevertheless, at this rate, the chance of Jermall fighting again appear slim. The champion’s last fight was against Juan Macias Montiel in 2021 and question marks will emerge over whether or not he will be stripped of his title.

After all, the middleweight division has been held up with Charlo not having defended his title. But if Jermall can overcome his problems, the star does have a shot against Canelo.

Unlike his brother who will be moving up two weight classes, Jermall would only be moving up one division which would make any size difference between the pair a lot less. 

Not only that, but seeing his brother take on Canelo first may give the 160 pound champion the chance to see a chink in the Mexican’s arsenal and follow up on his brother’s performance. 

Regardless of what the case may be, Jermall’s focus should be on taking care of his mindset. And that is the most important thing to remember moving forward in light of his current struggles.