The long-anticipated fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford which will take place on Saturday, July 29 in a Premier Boxing Champions event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, on pay-per-view has yet another storyline. Leading up to the fight, former champions and common opponents of Spence and Crawford, Shawn Porter and Kell Brook, gave their thoughts via a media conference call.
Kell Brook, who lost his IBF welterweight world title to Spence via technical knockout, and then fought Crawford in 2020 during the COVID-19 bubble compared his experience with both.
“I think inactivity can be an issue and it’s mental for Errol, who might question his inactivity," said Brook of Spence Jr.“I think Terence is a very sharp and snapping puncher and Errol has a more grinding and thumping kind of power. That’s the difference I see in the two. We’re talking about two star fighters and it’s going to come down to a very small margin and they’re going to have to bring every part of their game to get a victory.”
Porter sees the fight as a chance for Crawford to emerge as an all-time great of his era, as Porter believes that the mental strength of Crawford will be the edge.
Continuing with an ongoing trend, Porter along with Brook issued concern over the activity from Brook, as Brook cited it as a 'mental thing', Porter explained his perspective.
“The calculated pressure from Errol has to be something that he sustains for the entire fight," furthered Porter during the call. "He needs to continue putting on the pressure and body punching. If you’re Terence Crawford, you have to get to Errol’s body and make him uncomfortable. Errol has a really tight defense and keeps his hands at home."
Porter in fact detailed an exchange in which he was able to counterpunch Spence Jr., which made Porter think the following.
"What I realized, in that moment is, [Spence] isn't as intellectually sound as I thought," stated Porter. "I felt I was a step ahead of Errol [Spence] the entire fight until the knockdown moment and that was surprising to me."
Brook seemed to agree also with Porter's assessment.
"[Spence] does get frustrated," said Brook. "In the fight [I had with Spence], you catch him with shots and he shows it."
