In this interview with Fight Hub TV, respected trainer Naazim Richardson shares a bit of his thoughts on welterweight titleholder Errol Spence and why he still wants to see a little more from him before rushing to judgement...
“People don’t think I believe in Errol Spence because the way I speak. It’s not that I don’t believe in Errol Spence — he’s real and he’s a champion. I said I just need to see a little more to see how special he is. We can see he’s special on some level, I’m watching to see how special he is.
“We don’t know — he might be the face of the division but I just need to see. And when do we see that? We see that when he’s done something to somebody that nobody else has done. See, when I see you getting Lamont [Peterson], I saw Matthysse do that to Lamont. Matter of fact, in more devastating fashion. When I see you do the thing to the kid over in Europe [Kell Brook], I saw GGG just smash this boy — I don’t know how injured he is.
“And not saying that Spence didn’t do his thing but we just don’t know. I believe in him. I look at Spence like ‘yo, ain’t nobody in a rush to fight that kid, man.’ Ain’t nobody in a real rush to fight that kid. Because you don’t wanna be the one that’s gonna bring his test to fruition — we find out how special he is on your ass!
“I just wanna see because I really don’t know. Lamont walked to him — I didn’t understand that. I mean, I don’t question coaches philosophies and things, but Lamont walked to him like he knew something we didn’t know. I mean he just walked straight to him.”
On if he believes Peterson might’ve gained false confidence from past sparring against Spence:
“I’m ask ya’ll a question: what is going on with ‘I sparred so and so, I blacked somebody eye’?! Where did that shit come into boxing? You never even heard about who Ray Leonard and them was sparring! And now that’s where guys are actually getting credibility!..I’ve seen my kid — I ain’t even gonna say the kid name — I’ve seen my kid tear one of the best guys pound-for-pound in the game today ass up in sparring! And I told him to his face ‘you won’t beat that boy like that today. You still might be able to beat him, but don’t let that sparring shit fool you.’
“I told my son once, he got a chance to spar the Olympic Gold medalist and he missed the Olympics that year...Got off! Went off on this boy! We in the car going back to the hotel, ‘How you think I did?’ I said ‘Man, I think if the boy knew he had to defend his gold medal today he might’ve showed up differently. He didn’t know he was fighting for his gold medal all over again. You was in there fighting for your gold medal.’
“That’s why when we start talking about guys sparring — yeah, there’s some things you can gauge from a cat sparring, some demeanor, guy’s willingness to get back in there. I don’t know what Lamont could’ve saw that made him think he could walk to that young bull and think it’d be okay. Whatever he saw he should’ve saw some of the fights that kid had just had realized that day is passed! I should’ve fought him right after we sparred, we should’ve made the fight that week...”