Errol Spence

Errol Spence Jr. (born March 3, 1990) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur he won three consecutive United States national championships in the welterweight division and represented the United States at the 2012 Olympics, where he reached the welterweight quarter-finals. As of April 2017, Spence is ranked as the world's fifth best welterweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, seventh by The Ring magazine, and eighth by BoxRec.

Amateur career

Spence won the 2011 U.S. National Champion at Welterweight at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which he had also won in 2009 and 2010.

On August 3, 2012 Errol won his fight against Vikas Krishan after the original result was overturned and made it to the quarterfinals of the London Olympic Games.

Spence lost in the quarter finals of the 2012 London Olympics to Andrey Zamkovoy and turned professional shortly afterwards.

Professional career

Early career

On November 9, 2012 a 22 year old Spence made his professional debut at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California in a scheduled 4 round bout against 19 year old Jonathan Garcia. Spence knocked Garcia down and out in the 3rd round. In December 2012, Spence knocked out Richard Andrews at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California, which was part of undercard for Amir Khan's comeback fight against Carlos Molina.

Spence fought eight times in 2013, being victorious in all of them, winning six inside the distance. He was taken the eight round distance in October by Emmanuel Lartei Lartey, a rather one-sided fight which saw the judges score the fight 79-73, 79-73, 79-73 all in favor of Spence. By the end of 2013, Spence had won all of his 10 professional fights, with 8 inside the distance.

On December 13, 2014, Spence beat Javier Castro by TKO in the 5th round at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada marking one of his best performances to date.

Rising up the ranks

On April 11, 2015, Spence defeated Samuel Vargas by TKO in Round 4 of 10 in a Premier Boxing Champions fight card at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, bringing his record to 16-0. On June 20, Spence defeated Phil Lo Greco (26-1, 14 KOs) via 3rd-round TKO at the MGM Grand Arena.

Spence next fought 3 months at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto on the undercard of Stevenson-Karpency against Chris van Heerden. The referee stopped the fight in round 8, after Spence knocked down van Heerden twice in round 7 to win the IBF International Welterweight title. On November 28, Spence defeated Mexican Alejandro Barrera via 5th-round TKO at The Bomb Factory in Dallas. This was an IBF voluntary welterweight eliminator for the number 2 spot. Spence was ahead on all three judges scorecards (40-36, 3 times).

Spence vs. Algieri

On April 16, 2016, Spence became the first boxer to stop Chris Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) inside the distance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Spence did what Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan could not do before him. This was also a seventh straight knockout. After the bout Spence claimed he was the mandatory for Kell Brook's IBF World title saying "Kell Brook knows what time it is. We got to get in the ring and fight.". IBF later stated that Spence must have a final eliminator before he is declared mandatory challenger. The end came when Spence delivered a left hook to Algieri’s face. The hard shot sent Algieri straight to the canvas and referee Benjy Esteves didn’t hesitate to stop the fight.

Spence vs. Bundu

On May 16, 2016, Spence Jr. denied that his team turned down a fight against Brook, contrary to the notion made by Eddie Hearn. Spence mentioned that the International Boxing Federation has ordered him to fight IBF #3 Konstantin Ponomarev (30-0, 13 KOs) in order to become the mandatory challenger to Brook. Although there were no agreements to fight, on June 9, it was announced that Ponomarev had injured his hand, forcing him out of the eliminator. Instead, it was confirmed that Spence Jr. would fight IBF #7 Leonard Bundu (33-1-2, 12 KOs) in the eliminator on August 21 at the Ford Amphitheater at the Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn on a special Sunday night edition of Premier Boxing Champions on NBC in prime time.

After five one-sided rounds which saw Spence break down Bundu, Spence backed Bundu against the ropes and connected with an uppercut which dropped Bundu. The referee Johnny Callas waved off the fight without starting a count. The fight drew 4.8 million viewers on NBC and peaked at 6.34 million, this was the highest TV audience for boxing in over 10 years in the United States. After the fight, Spence Jr. reiterated his desire of becoming IBF World champion stating, "I definitely want my shot at Kell Brook and his title, I want him next. If he vacates or gets stripped then I'll fight for his vacant title. I've paid my dues."

World title challenge

Spence vs. Brook

In January 2017, Kell Brook and his team were in talks with Amir Khan over a potential fight, whilst also keeping the mandatory fight with Spence as second choice. During negotiations, Khan urged Brook to fight Spence first and eventually talks broke down between Brook and Khan. Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn mentioned talks were already ongoing with Spence's manager Al Haymon for a fight to take place possibly in the UK in May. Hearn received an extension from the IBF for negotiations between himself and TGB Promotions boss Tom Brown, as they were progressing. The purse bids for the fight was set for February 7 by the IBF. On February 1, Hearn claimed that Brook will be keeping his title and make the defense against Spence and that he had reached out to Spence's team, to no reply. He assumed that they wanted the fight to go to purse bids. Spence said that he had no problem travelling to the UK for the fight, regardless of negotiations. With a deal close to being reached a day before the purse bids, the IBF granted a week extension, pushing the purse bid back 7 days. On February 13, a deal was reached for the fight to take place in Sheffield on May 20, 2017. At a press conference at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on March 22, the fight was officially announced to take place on May 27, 2017 live on Sky Box Office in the UK and Showtime in the US.

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
22	N/A	N/A	Kell Brook	N/A	– (12)	May 27, 2017	Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England	For IBF welterweight title
21	Win	21–0	Leonard Bundu	KO	6 (12), 2:06	Aug 21, 2016	Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island, New York City, New York, U.S.
20	Win	20–0	Chris Algieri	TKO	5 (10), 0:48	Apr 16, 2016	Barclays Center, New York City, New York, U.S.
19	Win	19–0	Alejandro Barrera	TKO	5 (12), 1:46	Nov 28, 2015	The Bomb Factory, Dallas, Texas, U.S.
18	Win	18–0	Chris van Heerden	TKO	8 (10), 0:50	Sep 11, 2015	Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
17	Win	17–0	Phil Lo Greco	TKO	3 (10), 1:50	Jun 20, 2015	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
16	Win	16–0	Samuel Vargas	TKO	4 (10), 1:45	Apr 11, 2015	Barclays Center, New York City, New York, U.S.
15	Win	15–0	Francisco Javier Castro	TKO	5 (8), 2:43	Dec 13, 2014	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
14	Win	14–0	Noe Bolanos	RTD	2 (8), 3:00	Sep 11, 2014	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
13	Win	13–0	Ronald Cruz	UD	10	Jun 27, 2014	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
12	Win	12–0	Raymond Charles	TKO	1 (10), 2:52	Apr 18, 2014	Illusions Theater, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
11	Win	11–0	Peter Olouch	KO	4 (8), 1:39	Feb 10, 2014	Cowboys Dancehall, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
10	Win	10–0	Gerardo Cuevas	RTD	1 (8), 3:00	Dec 13, 2013	Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S.
9	Win	9–0	Emmanuel Lartie Lartey	UD	8	Oct 14, 2013	BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida, U.S.
8	Win	8–0	Jesus Tavera	TKO	1 (8), 2:33	Sep 12, 2013	MGM Grand Marquee Ballroom, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
7	Win	7–0	Eddie Cordova	KO	1 (6), 2:13	Jul 20, 2013	Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S.
6	Win	6–0	Guillermo Ibarra	KO	1 (6), 1:32	Jun 1, 2013	BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida, U.S.
5	Win	5–0	Brandon Hoskins	TKO	1 (6), 2:35	May 3, 2013	The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, U.S
4	Win	4–0	Luis Torres	UD	4	Mar 2, 2013	Our Lady of the Lake University Gym, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
3	Win	3–0	Nathan Butcher	TKO	1 (4), 1:03	Jan 26, 2013	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
2	Win	2–0	Richard Andrews	TKO	3 (4), 0:44	Dec 15, 2012	Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
1	Win	1–0	Jonathan Garcia	KO	3 (4), 2:41	Nov 9, 2012	Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California, U.S.	Professional debut