Spence Says His Crawford Camp Was 'Trash'

Errol Spence Jr. has finally said what many suspected — his preparation for the Terence Crawford fight was a disaster.

The absence of sparring, a rib injury requiring a cortisone shot, and a failure to prepare for Crawford's most dangerous weapon — his ability to switch stances — all combined to leave him critically underprepared for the biggest fight of his career.

"In training camp, training camp was trash at the end of the day. Ask anybody who was in Vegas in that gym. They didn't see me sparring. Ain't nobody see me sparring. Two weeks out, two, three weeks out, I didn't spar six weeks out," Spence

The sparring admission is the most damaging detail. It is a fundamental breakdown in preparation, and Spence's willingness to say so plainly, years after the defeat, speaks to how much it has clearly stayed with him. The rib injury compounded everything.

"I had to get a cortisone shot in my ribs because my ribs were hurting. We ain't do none of that in training camp. It was a lot of stuff that could have been different or could have been prevented. Even if I wasn't sparring like that, we could have prevented a lot of things that shouldn't have happened," Spence added

Spence was careful to credit Crawford regardless. The implication of the admission is not that the result was undeserved — Spence acknowledges Crawford earned the victory — but that the version of himself that showed up that night was so far below his ceiling that the true fight between them was never properly contested.

Spence returns on July 26 in Australia against Tim Tszyu, a fight that carries its own significant stakes and serves as the qualifier for a potential meeting with Jermell Charlo. A convincing Spence performance in Sydney would reignite the conversation about what he is still capable of at 154 pounds.