Everything Errol Spence Jr said after loss to Terence Crawford: Spence hints he may not take rematch at 147

Errol Spence Jr took the first loss of his career tonight, and it wasn’t even competitive, as Terence Crawford routed him and left undisputed welterweight championship, stopping Spence in the ninth round.

In his post-fight press conference, Spence (28-1, 22 KO) stressed that he’d like the rematch to be at 154 lbs, but that is up to Crawford (40-0, 31 KO) as the winner of this fight. Spence also did at least hint that he won’t do the Crawford rematch if Crawford wants to do it again at 147.

“Yeah, in my mind, it’s my last fight at 147 lbs,” he said when asked if it would be his final welterweight bout. “Hopefully the next one will be at 154.”

Spence also genuinely made no real excuses, giving Crawford his full due.

“It was an off-night. The better man won tonight, and I’m not here to make any excuses,” he said. “He did his thing. My timing was off. I couldn’t capitalize on a couple of things. His timing was a lot better than mine tonight.”

Everything Errol Spence Jr said at the post-fight presser

On the weight cut and whether he’ll do 147 for the rematch

“It’s something I’ve got to talk to my management about, but hopefully it’s at 154. ... (The weight cut) is always difficult, but I don’t make any excuses. The better man won tonight.”

On what surprised him about Crawford

“Nothing really surprised me. He’s just like I thought. My timing wasn’t good today.”

On his timing being off

“I felt a little off physically, but most times I get through it. I thought it was going to be like the other times, but I couldn’t kick it up a notch.”

On Crawford’s power

“I got a feel for his power in probably the first or second round. He’s a strong dude, but everybody at the top level has some type of power. I think because my timing was off, he was catching me in between shots.”

On having any difficulty seeing with swelling

“No. I didn’t have any difficulty seeing at all.”

On how he felt physically

“I felt cool. I felt I could do enough to win the fight. I felt good, like I said I’m not here to make any excuses. I’m a grown man. I agreed to the weight and to get down to it, and that’s what I did. No excuses. Hats off to the champion tonight.”

On how he’ll deal with this going forward

“I’m not gonna stew over it at all. I did what I was supposed to do, regardless of the outcome. I promised everybody I was going to do it and I did it as a man. I’m not gonna sulk over this, I’ll get right back and get to it, hopefully at 154 lbs.”

On taking solace in giving the boxing public a big fight

“Definitely. It was exciting. It’s something that I wouldn’t change for nothing. I’m definitely open to the rematch, and hopefully it’ll be at 154 lbs.”

On what he thinks would be different at 154

“I know I’m a lot better than what I showed tonight. I know that a lot of things were off with me. Even though Terence did what he was supposed to, he was sharp and he was on-point, and he made sure he was 100 percent ready in this fight.”

On what Derrick James said to him after the fight

“He just told me to keep my head up, I was off. He was trying to console me like he’s supposed to.”

On what he thought after the knockdown in round two

“Shit, uh, just fight back, I mean [laughing] — I mean, what you mean what was going through my mind? It’s a boxing match, so I was trying to block the shots he was throwing and come back with shots. Nothing really was going through my mind. Just the same stuff.”

On what Crawford said after the fight

“He just said good fight, much respect, and that’s about it.”