As the dust settles on Terence Crawford’s sublime performance this past weekend and the outpouring of adulation towards ‘Bud’ begins to cool off, attention has begun to turn to the man who was the nail to Crawford’s hammer at the T-Mobile Arena, Errol Spence Jr.
So brutal was the beating sustained by Spence, who has also suffered a host of other ailments during his career, that concerns for his long term health have emerged online.
Appearing on the Stephen A Smith show, former trainer Teddy Atlas admitted he was one of those who was worried about Spence, and pleaded with the Texan to “at the very least, take a year off.”
“Spence left the ring, with a lot less of himself and he’ll never get it back. That’s a fact. He will never get that back, and that has to be brought into account.
No one wants to take away someone’s earning power or someone’s career. But the reality in life is, sometimes you have to think down that road.
The accumulative damage that was done round after round, he would have been better off if he was caught flush with one shot and knocked down.
He, at the very least, should take a year off. A year off from getting touched in the end. He’s earned the time off.”
It remains unclear as of yet whether Spence will heed Atlas words of caution, decide to activate a contractual rematch clause or perhaps move up in weight and pursue fights against some of the names at 154lbs.
At the post fight press conference, he stated his desire to take on Crawford again, with the caveat that he would much prefer a second dust up takes place up a weight class.