Errol Spence Jr: Keith Thurman and undisputed championship are ultimate goals

Errol Spence Jr, who defends his IBF welterweight title against Lamont Peterson on Saturday, sat down with ESPN’s First Take and gave some thoughts on the current state of the welterweight division.

On Terence Crawford

“It starts out with Jeff Horn. He needs to worry about beating Jeff Horn and getting that belt first before he’s talking about lining it up with me and Keith Thurman.”

“Terence Crawford should outbox (Jeff Horn). Terence Crawford should outbox him and beat him, but Jeff Horn is a rough, rugged fighter. Jeff Horn always comes to fight. But I think Terence Crawford should win that fight.”

On other challenges at 147

“After I handle my business January 20th on Showtime, you have guys like Danny Garcia, guys like Shawn Porter, guys who are proven at 147 and guys who are tough. Danny Garcia did basically almost the same thing, being undisputed welterweight champion as Terence Crawford did at 140.” (Editor’s note: No.) “You got a lot of guys at 147 that I can prove myself against.”

“Right now my total focus is Lamont Peterson. After that, my ultimate goal is to get that fight with Keith Thurman. He has two of the belts. I want to be undisputed welterweight champion of the world, and nothing is going to deter me from that.”