In just over one month’s time, years of speculation and debate will finally be settled when Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford face off for the undisputed welterweight world championship on July 29th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Excitement amongst fans, pundits and even other fighters seems to be growing by the day, however former world champion Barry McGuigan has raised a concern on social media.
‘The Clones Cyclone’ put out a tweet, expressing concern for supposed slurring in Spence’s speech, which can sometimes be an indicator of a fighter taking too much damage.
Worrying how slurred ErolSpence’s speech is. https://t.co/pVLDlF4sCp
— Barry McGuigan (@ClonesCyclone) June 13, 2023
As well as gruelling fights against the likes of Kell Brook, Yordenis Ugas and Shawn Porter, Spence has also been involved in two serious car accidents over the past few years, which some observers believe may have taken a physical toll on the unified world champion.
That said, there were those in the Twitter replies who were quick to rebuke McGuigan’s claims, putting oddities in Spence’s speech down to the numerous new teeth he had fitted following his more serious automobile incident in 2019.
It remains up for debate which of the two premier 147lbers has more miles on the clock going into the legacy defining clash. Crawford is older than Spence and has had more fights, but Spence has arguably been in more tough fights and there is a perception he has perhaps not lived the life as well as ‘Bud.’
Crawford is a marginal favourite with the bookmakers at the time of writing, however the boxing world seems to be split right down the middle on what is potentially the most significant fight the sport has seen this decade.