Posted on 08/09/2021
By: Hans Themistode
During the final few days before his showdown against Danny Garcia, Errol Spence Jr. regurgitated repeatedly that he was just fine. Having watched the Dallas native being flung from his sports car in October of 2019 during a horrific car wreck, the 31-year-old took his time in the recovery room.
In total, Spence Jr. spent over a year on the sidelines as he worked with trainer Derrick James on his timing, conditioning, mindset, and overall health. But while Spence Jr. would continue to tell reporters that he felt like his old self, behind the scenes, he was far from okay.
“I wasn’t right,” said Spence Jr. during an interview with Barbershop Conversations. “I wasn’t right at all. I can write a book about my whole training camp and stuff that was happening and going on. It was a lot of stuff. I just knew that he was going to have to be in a real dog fight to beat me.”
The dog fight that Spence Jr. was ultimately looking for, however, never took place as Garcia stood patiently on the outside and seldom threw combinations at the unified titlist. In the end, the Philadelphian suffered a one-sided decision loss.
In regards to his performance, Spence Jr. appeared proud to snag the victory. But all in all, he was expecting much more from the former two-division titlist.
“I knew I could outbox him easily. I thought he was going to throw punches, and come at me and have a lot of enthusiasm.”
With his matchup against Garcia in the rearview mirror, Spence Jr. is currently looking ahead. At the moment, the Dallas product is putting the finishing touches on an arduous training camp as he prepares to take on former eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. The two are slated to face off at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 21st.
As the day’s inch closer and closer, the issues that plagued Spence Jr. for his camp against Garcia are now a distant memory. With the biggest fight of his career rapidly approaching, Spence Jr. is confident that he’ll ultimately inflict the sort of damage that will see Pacquiao exit the sport of boxing for good.
“Now, I’m feeling strong as heck. I wanted to be as strong as I can to knock out Manny Pacquiao and send him off into retirement.”