As well as the adulation that was poured upon Terence Crawford eased up, voices of concern for Errol Spence Jr began to emerge in the days following the pair’s undisputed welterweight world title fight at the T-Mobile Arena last month.
One such voice is that of former would champion and hall-of-famer, Barry McGuigan, who has claimed that Spence should retire from boxing following the beating he sustained from Crawford.
In his column for the Mirror, McGuigan stated that the punishment Spence took at the hands of Crawford was “frightening.”
“I’m worried for Errol Spence. I’m not a doctor or a scientist but I have been in boxing for 50 years and I know when I see a guy lose punch resistance.
The way that Terence Crawford was able to dismantle him in Las Vegas was frightening from Spence’s point of view.
It didn’t look like Spence in there. That’s how good Crawford was. He made a great fighter look like an amateur. And Spence knew it. He was beaten mentally. That doesn’t go away.
You can’t recapture your ability to take a shot. If that code is cracked in your brain and nervous system, if that has been broken, it is not coming back. The signs as far as I am concerned were very worrying. I believe he should consider walking away rather than going up seven pounds to take on Crawford again.”
It remains unclear what Spence’s next move will be, though he stated his desire to have another crack at Crawford in the post fight press conference last month.
He has a contractual rematch clause, meaning ‘Bud’ will have no choice but to face him again should he decide to activate it.