Errol Spence's Retirement Was Three Years Overdue

Errol Spence Jr. needed to retire after Terence Crawford dismantled him in July 2023. Instead, he gave us three more years of watching one of welterweight's best fighters deteriorate into a shot fighter chasing ghosts. The unanimous decision loss to Tim Tszyu in July 2026 was not a surprise—it was an autopsy of a career already over.

The signs were everywhere. Start with the 2019 car crash that flipped his Ferrari multiple times and should have ended his career on the spot. Spence returned, beat Danny Garcia in a forgettable decision, then took Yordenis Ugas' eye in a 2022 fight where Spence looked slower and more hittable than ever. That version of Spence—the one who absorbed punishment instead of dictating pace—was already a different fighter than the one who schooled Mikey Garcia and outworked Shawn Porter.

Then came Crawford. The September 2023 undisputing showed us the truth: Spence had nothing left for elite competition. Crawford dropped him three times and stopped him in nine. Spence looked confused, flat-footed, unable to solve problems he would have handled in 2019. He blamed a bad training camp. He demanded a rematch clause that Crawford wisely ignored. The correct move was to hang them up right there.

Instead, Spence chased one more payday against Tszyu, a former junior middleweight titlist rebuilding after his own loss to Sebastian Fundora. Spence went twelve rounds but admitted afterward he could barely remember them—a terrifying admission from a 36-year-old fighter with head trauma history. Tszyu didn't need to be great; he just needed to be younger and sharper than a fighter three years past his expiration date.

Spence retires as a former unified welterweight champion with wins over Porter, Garcia, and Kell Brook. That resume earns him Hall of Fame consideration. But legacies get tarnished when fighters stay too long. The last image fans will carry is Spence getting outboxed by Tszyu and admitting his memory failed him. He should have walked away in 2023 with his faculties intact and the Crawford loss as his only blemish at the top. Instead, he gave us a painful epilogue no one needed to see.