SPORTS SHORTS 144: ERROL SPENCE, THE IMPRESSIVE AMATEUR BOXER AND UNDEFEATED PROFESSIONAL WORLD CHAMPION
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 04 Jun 2021
Errol Spence Jr. is of Jamaican descent by his father and American descent by his mother. He was born on Long Island, New York, but grew up in Dallas, Texas.
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Spence won the 2009 U.S. National Golden Gloves, and also won three consecutive national amateur championships from 2009 to 2011, all in the welterweight division. Spence reached the quarter-finals at the 2011 World Championships, losing to Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan.
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In the 2012 London Olympics, the amateur boxing's governing body AIBA overturned Spence's loss to Indian welterweight Krishan Vikas, five hours after Vikas had apparently used dirty tactics to ensure a 13-11 victory.
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After the American team protested the result, AIBA's jury reviewed the bout and declared that Vikas had committed nine holding fouls in the third round alone. He also intentionally spit out his mouthpiece in the second round, which should have been punishable by at least four point deductions.
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Spence advanced into the quarterfinals but was defeated by Andrey Zamkovoy of Russia, losing a possible bronze medal. It was the first time the American men's Olympic boxing team went home without a medal.
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The women boxers saved it for the United States boxing team with middleweight Claressa Shields winning the gold medal and flyweight Marlen Esparza getting the bronze medal.
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Spence ended his amateur career with a record of 135-12 and turned professional shortly after the London Olympics.
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On November 9, 2012, a 22-year-old Spence made his professional debut at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California against 19-year-old Jonathan Garcia. Spence knocked Garcia down and out in the 3rd round in a scheduled four round bout.
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Spence fought former light welterweight champion Chris Algieri at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A crowd of 7,628 cheered mostly for Algieri, but Spence became the first opponent to stop him and it was Spence's seventh straight knockout. Spence delivered a left hook to Algieri’s face that sent Algieri to the canvas.
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Referee Benjy Esteves stopped the fight. CompuBox statistics showed that Spence landed 96 of 311 punches for 31%, while the Algieri landed 36 of 114 thrown for 32%.
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On May 27, 2017 before 27,000 fans, Spence downed and then stopped Kell Brook to win the IBF welterweight title in the 11th round. Spence hit combinations to the head and to the body, slowing down Brook.
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In the 10th round, Spence trapped Brook against the ropes and bombarded him with solid power punches, causing Brook to take a knee. In 11th round, Brook had a difficulty seeing in his left eye so he again took a knee and was counted out.
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At the time of stoppage, all three judges had Spence leading in their scorecards 97-92, 96-93, 95-94. Even if he won the fight, Spence commented he was not able to give his best performance. Spence landed 246 of 633 punches thrown for 39% while Brook landed 136 of 442 for 31%.
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Spence fought Lamont Peterson at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on January 20, 2018. On fight night, in front of 12,107 fans, Spence annihilated Peterson dropping him in the 5th round by a solid left hand. Peterson beat the count but his face was swollen and his eyes were puffed up from Spence’s hard punches.
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Spence also targeted the body from the opening round. After the 6th round, Peterson knew he was behind on the scorecards and his trainer Barry Hunter had to stop the fight in the 8th round. All three judges had their scorecards at 70-62 for Spence when the fight was over.
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According to CompuBox stats, Spence landed 161 of 526 punches thrown for 30% and Peterson landed only 45 of his 158 thrown for 28%.
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Then it was Mikey Garcia's turn to face Spence in the welterweight division at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on March 16, 2019. During the fight though, Spence completely outgunned and dominated Garcia, using his reach advantage to connect jabs to the head and body.
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With Spence's weight and height advantage, he was able to completely dominate Garcia through the 8th and 9th rounds. Spence landed power shots, using hooks and uppercuts constantly hitting Garcia.
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Spence landed 345 punches to Garcia's 75. The scorecards were 120-107 and 120-108, twice, which gave Spence a 12-round shutout triumph.
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Spence fought two-time welterweight world champion Shawn Porter on September 28, 2019, in a unification bout with the IBF and WBC welterweight titles at stake. Spence won by split decision with the judges scoring it 116–111, 116–111 for him and 115–112 for Porter.
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In his first fight since meeting a car accident in October 2019, Spence fought former two-division world champion Danny Garcia on December 5, 2020 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas with Spence's IBF and WBC welterweight titles on the line. He won a unanimous decision with 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111, and retained his titles.
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On May 21, 2021, eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao made a surprising announcement on his social media that he and Spence would fight on August 21 in Las Vegas and both fighter's have signed contracts to battle each other.
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Currently, Spence has 27 wins with 21 KOs without a loss or draw. He has a high 77.78% KO rate.
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A total of 116 boxers from 12 nations competed at the 1916 Antwerp Olympics. The gold medalists were:
Flyweight Frankie Genaro of United States
Bantamweight Clarence Walker of South Africa
Featherweight Paul Fritsch of France
Lightweight Samuel Mosberg of United States
Welterweight Bert Schneider of Canada
Middleweight Harry Mallin of Great Britain
Light heavyweight Eddie Eagan of United States
HeavyweightRonald Rawson of Great Britain
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LeBron James turned over the ball 4.4 times per game, the most in a postseason since his rookie year in the NBA. His 22.2 points per game was so far his third-lowest scoring average in a series.
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If the Lakers lose today to the Phoenix Suns, it will be the first time in James’ career that he will lost a first-round playoff series and the first time since 2010 that his team lost a playoff series before the NBA Finals.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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