By Norm Frauenheim –
Errol Spence Jr.’s announcement this week included a stunning video of him in a wheel chair with his right eye bandaged.
It wasn’t a good look.
It was sad.
Hard to watch.
Harder to explain.
Spence tried, but his cryptic words and tone leave more questions than any real answers
“It’s been past due,’’ he said of cataract surgery, which he underwent more than five months after Terence Crawford punished him in a ninth-round TKO on July 29 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. “Shit was covering my eye.
“Why you think I got hit with so many jabs, hooks? Still a great performance by bro.’’
The author of that great performance had only two words for Spence’s video.
“No comment,’’ Crawford said in a social media post that succinctly showed why he’s one of the smartest guys in boxing.
It’s not clear whether Spence got the message. But he deleted the video post from his Instagram account.
Monday, he moved on to X (formerly Twitter), saying he wouldn’t retire.
“All that said you can kill the retire shit.’’
He added: “Yea I got my ass beat shit was past due. I didn’t live exactly like a boxer for the most part.”
The post is gone. But the questions aren’t. They’ve been there, before and after the brutal loss to Crawford.
The questions date back to Spence’s scary auto accident in October 2019. It was never clear how badly he was hurt in the single-car wreck. He was ejected from the vehicle, a Ferrari, as it flipped in midair in Dallas. According to Spence, he got into another auto accident in December 2022.
He fought twice after the first accident and before the long long-awaited welterweight showdown with Crawford last July. First, he scored a unanimous decision over Danny Garcia in December 2020. Then, he stopped Yordenis Ugas in April 2022.
But it’s what happened between Garcia and Ugas that leaves questions.
And concern.
Spence had agreed to fight faded legend Manny Pacquiao in a bout scheduled for August 21, 2021. About 10 days before opening bell, however, he had to withdraw because of surgery for a retinal tear in his left eye. Ugas, a late stand-in, went on to upset Pacquiao.
Within the last three years, Spence, 33, has undergone eye surgery twice, once on each eye. He’s expected to recover from the cataract surgery within eight weeks.
Then what?
The timing of the cataract surgery and Spence’s social-media explanation are mystifying. Apparently, the cataract condition was bothering him when he stepped into the ring against Crawford, the most dangerous man in a dangerous business. He wore glasses to the final news conference a couple of days before opening bell.
He jokes about getting hit by “jabs and hooks.’’
But it’s no joke. If he delayed the surgery for the cataract condition, he did more than compromise his chances at beating Crawford. He might have compromised his vision.
His plan, apparently, is to fight Crawford in a rematch, this time at a heavier weight, 154 pounds instead of 147. He had a rematch clause in his contract with Crawford. He exercised it in late August.
But here’s another question: Shouldn’t he have undergone the cataract surgery before exercising that rematch clause?
There’s a lot of selfish – make that stupid — talk on social media from fans who say they never wanted to see Crawford-Spence 2 in the first place because the July fight was so one-sided.
Who cares? A rematch is irrelevant. Instead, there are serious question about whether a fight against any contender, welterweight or junior-middleweight, would endanger Spence’s long-term well-being.
Yes, there’s uncertainty about what’s next for Crawford. But it was there anyway. He had planned on a sequel with Spence, perhaps in March. Now, however, he might have to move on to a date with Jaron “Boots” Ennis or a big paycheck against Canelo Alvarez at 168 pounds, three divisions heavier than the welterweight class he has dominated so brilliantly.
But, now, none of that matters.
Only Spence does.
