Andre Ward has offered some words of wisdom for Errol Spence Jr ahead of his contracted rematch with Terence Crawford.
Former two-weight world champion Ward unified both the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions and saw off all challenges. He remained unbeaten in his career despite facing top-level foes such as Carl Froch and Sergey Kovalev, twice.
Ward had buckets of technical skills and, as a former high school wrestling champion, was also a master on the inside.
He has now drawn on all that experience to give Spence Jr some advice about the rematch with Crawford having come unstuck when the pair first met in the summer for the undisputed welterweight title.
Spence was dominated and stopped in round nine in a superb performance from Crawford.
Speaking to Stephen A Smith, Ward was full of praise for the champion.
“He’s the truth, he’s not going to shy away in a big moment, he’s going to rise. You saw a fighter that could box, you saw a fighter that was poised then you saw that finishing ability where it was time to finish Spence. I love both guys but somebody gotta win, somebody gotta lose.”
It was then suggested that Spence should not get back in the ring for the rematch and Ward agreed.
“I wouldn’t like to see it. From a competitor’s standpoint, I know Errol’s gonna wanna get that back, but he don’t need to get back in the ring. I wouldn’t recommend that.”
While Spence has triggered the contract clause, nothing has yet been confirmed and Crawford has in fact already been stripped of his IBF title for not being able to fight mandatory challenger Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
With PBC’s deal now in place with Amazon Prime, Crawford-Spence 2 could well be one of the partnership’s first major events.