After three years of existing almost exclusively outside of the boxing media bubble, Errol Spence Jr. is set for his long-awaited return to the ring on Saturday. And the former unified welterweight champion, who admittedly dislikes doing interviews, has been dropping nothing but truth bombs along the way. Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) will enter the ring for the first time since his lone pro defeat — a one-sided dismantling at the hands of Terence Crawford in their 2023 four-belt welterweight unification bout — when he faces Australian star and former 154-pound titleholder Tim Tszyu (27-3, 18 KOs) in a middleweight bout inside Afterpay Arena in Sydney (9 p.m. ET, PBC on Prime PPV/DAZN). At 36, Spence has come clean about everything from what went wrong against Crawford (he entered the fight with fractured ribs but controversially chose not to disclose the injury in order to bank the payday for his family) and his falling out with former trainer Derrick James over money and a poor training camp for the Crawford fight. Spence’s honesty only continued this week when he declared, during a Tuesday sitdown on “The Punch Podcast,” that his fight against Tszyu, the 31-year-old son of Hall-of-Famer Kostya Tszyu, could very well be the last of his 14-year pro career, regardless of the result.
“Yeah, it could be, I’m really just playing it by ear,” Spence mentioned. “It could be or it could not. It’s just something I’m not thinking about right now. I’m just thinking about the fight and we will think about all of that after the fight.
“I don’t have to come back [financially] but it’s one of those things, like why not? I started training and started feeling way better than I was feeling. There is just something in me. I’ve just got the intuition to come back.”
Just three years ago, Spence held three of four recognized welterweight titles, was ranked among the top three pound-for-pound best in the sport and held a Hall-of-Fame caliber resume with victories over Kell Brook, Lamont Peterson, Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugas. But the one-sided loss to Crawford, which featured three knockdowns and a sustained beating in a ninth-round TKO, and years of difficult cuts to 147 pounds led Spence into a perpetual state of rumored returns at 154 pounds that never came to fruition.
Once Spence finally committed to seeking a new head coach in the form of Ronnie Shields earlier this year, the legendary trainer instantly pushed the 2012 U.S. Olympian into a rigorous workload off the jump to test how badly he wanted it.
“Training camp was hard,” Spence mentioned at Monday’s grand arrivals in Sydney. “There were times where I just wanted to go home. It took a while for my body to really get adjusted to pushing the pace and going all out.”
Although Shields was eventually pleased with what he saw, even he is taking a realistic viewpoint on what this comeback actually means and whether this is a new chapter in Spence’s career or merely the end of it.
“The intention is not to come back to try and win world titles. That’s not the intention,” Shields told Fight Hub TV on Tuesday. “[Spence] just didn’t want to go out the way he went out. The intention is for his own personal self that [he] may fight one or two but no more than three fights. He mentioned, ‘Anytime I lose, I’m done. But no longer than three fights.’ It’s not about world titles, it’s about self-preservation.
“He’s doing this on his terms. It’s not about anyone else’s terms. It’s on him. He mentioned, ‘If I was going to come out and lose, my career is over. I’m done. There is no sense of me trying to push, for what?’ He wants to be satisfied for himself. He mentioned, ‘Even if I win, I may say that’s it.'”
While Spence seemingly chose the right opponent in Tszyu, a talented yet clearly flawed fighter who endured three physically damaging losses in the past two years alone, the jury is still out as to whether the southpaw from Desoto, Texas, will be able to channel the champion of old or whether he’ll simply show up as an older version of Spence.
For the record, Spence is a small betting favorite and, at their respective peaks, would’ve likely been favored by a much larger number. But it’s difficult to gauge just how damaging the Crawford loss was to him physically, how Spence will look above 147 pounds and whether three years without a fight — at his age — is simply too much to ask.
And then there’s the agreed upon contract weight, which has only added to the speculation.
Initially, Spence’s comeback was to take place at 154 pounds but, due to the demands of international travel, the fight was negotiated to be a 158-pound catchweight bout. Just over one week out from the fight, however, Spence’s team renegotiated with Tszyu to round out the number and make it a middleweight bout set for 160 pounds.
“People can think what they want to think about the weight, but on fight night they’re gonna see something different,” Spence mentioned.
Another one of Spence’s intriguing reveals surrounds why the fight is taking place in Sydney and not greater Dallas, where Spence has headlined multiple cards at AT&T Stadium in Arlington or at the Dallas Cowboys training facility in nearby Frisco.
Initially, there was a belief that Tszyu’s stardom in Australia meant more PPV money and a deal that couldn’t be passed up, but Spence quickly shot that down earlier this week, as well, and mentioned it was his choice in large part to avoid the media.
“I dread it every time. It’s something that I do not like to do,” Spence mentioned. “If I could just fight, I would just fight. I really don’t care for all this stuff but I know you have to do it. I’m here for it and I don’t complain about it but I don’t like it at all. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come to Australia because I wouldn’t have to do as many interviews.
“I know if I would’ve fought in Dallas, I would’ve had to do thousands of interviews. I knew for my first fight back, I wanted to fight overseas somewhere so the only time I do interviews really is the fight week.”
For as long as there have been prizefighting, there have been ambitious and high-profile comebacks from former champions seeking some combination of lost riches, historical footnotes or the lure of attention one last time.
While Spence has declared that his return has nothing to do with money and more the need to close a giant chapter in his life on his own terms, it remains to be seen what exactly boxing fans will be in store for when he touches gloves once more with Tszyu.
“This was the right time to come back, and against the right opponent,” Spence mentioned. “My body feels good, so I mentioned why not? My motivation to come back is about myself and my personal goals. Everything about training just excites me. You’ve gotta enjoy it while it lasts, because one day it’ll be over. I’m taking it one fight at a time.”
