Welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. will finally get a chance at a world title when he takes on Kell Brook this May. No official date has been finalized at this time but it's essentially assured to happen. So leading up to the fight Spence takes some times to talk to Marcos Villegas of FightHub about how he plans on securing his first belt.
Spence on how he feels going into his first world title fight:
"I'm excited, it's a lifelong dream of mine to fight for a world title and it's every kid's dream to fight for a world title. My favorite fighters are Floyd Mayweather, Terry Norris, Muhammad Ali - all these types of guys fought for world titles and won multiple world titles...I can't wait. I'm gonna be 100% dedicated, 100% focused and train our butt off for this fight.
On if he thought this fight against Kell Brook would never come after sitting in his mandatory position for a while:
"I knew it was gonna come because I was in line, I was #1, so he either had to vacate or fight, I just didn't know when. So now I have a range of when we're gonna get in the ring and fight so I'm excited.
"I wasn't worried about it. The IBF, they're very strict on their rules so I wasn't worried. I knew it was gonna come, I just didn't know when. Then the wait was kind of frustrating, waiting 7-8 months to fight one guy, you know, fight for the belt. So it was kind of frustrating but I'm glad it's finally happening."
On if he's worried that the only way he can get a fair shake by fighting Brook in England is to win by KO:
"Hopefully the judges are fair. I think that they'll be fair, we're not gonna leave it in the judges hands, hopefully I do get a knockout. But I can't worry about that, I gotta stick to my game plan, do what we came there to do and that's to win and look impressive. The fans will know who won at the end of the night."
On how he assess Kell Brook's strengths and weaknesses and how he thinks they match up:
"I'm not gonna say what he doesn't do well - I don't want him to change it up [laughs]. But he has a good jab and a good one-two. I think our styles will clash in the fight because he's a prideful guy, shows a lot of heart, wears his heart on his sleeve when he fights, and I can too so I think we're gonna clash. Clash of styles."
On if he's wants to target Brook's restructured orbital bone right away:
"It's not something that I'm just going to target. I'm gonna hit anything that's open...so I'm not worried about his eye, I can't worry about that, I just gotta focus for the 100% Kell Brook and the best Kell Brook."
On how he feels his consistent body punching will play a role in this fight:
"I think body work plays into anything. Especially in a 12 round fight, you have to work the body early and later on he might get tired. The body shots pay a toll on any fighter so we're definitely gonna work the body and bring it back upstairs and hopefully we can stop him."
On how he would rank the top five welterweights excluding himself:
"It's a deep weight class. I mean you got Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Manny Pacquiao, Kell Brook, Shawn Porter, and you can keep going on to ten. So it's a deep, deep, deep pool of fighters and I feel like this is the best division in boxing and it's getting back to the old days where everybody's fighting each other. So I think it's gonna be a great few years in boxing right now.
"Top three, excluding me...Manny's still up there, definitely....Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman. But if you take Manny Pacquiao out it would be Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, and Kell Brook."