"I think Terence is a terrific boxer. They developed him real well. I think he's ready for the big time...Rios, I think, has made enough for him and his family to be comfortable, but that was a smart decision. He was kind of saying some of the things that I was saying when I retired...I got Cotto! I'm going with the old man. I think people discredit Cotto talking about his age," stated former undispted welterweight champion Cory Spinks, who shared his thoughts on a number of subjects. Check it out!
PC. What are your thoughts on Terence Crawford? Do you like what you see from him?
CS: I think Terence is a terrific boxer. They developed him real well. I think he's ready for the big time.
PC: He likes to switch a lot from orthodox to southpaw and vice versa. Are you a fan of that or would you like to see him commit to one side or the other more?
CS: To me, it's to each his own. I used to hate to fight switch-hand fighters. I used to try and get them out of there fast. But if it works for you, and man, he's good on both sides, so why not. I would say though, he has to be very careful doing that because someone can catch you switching. They can catch you in switch mode and you won't be able to defend yourself. I think Gamboa had a little success catching him in between like that.
PC: Tim Bradley stopped Brandon Rios who has been a durable guy. Rios retired in the ring. What do you think of his decision to walk away from the sport right now?
CS: I think that was a very smart move on his part. Rios, I think, has made enough for him and his family to be comfortable, but that was a smart decision. He was kind of saying some of the things that I was saying when I retired, man. He said he was feeling aches in places that he had never felt before and it's places where he knows he's not getting hit in those places. So when you feel that way, it's time to hang 'em up. That was a smart move because he said the most important thing was his family, so I take my hat off to him for that. He's been through some wars and Bradley gave it to him good Saturday night. I can't knock him for calling it quits.
PC: How difficult of a decision is it to retire, because in boxing, you guys start fighting at such a young age and unfortunately you leave at a young age as well?
CS: The retirement age for boxing is really 35. These days now, these cats retiring in their 20's man. That's crazy to me. I retired when I was 34, but that was my set age to retire before I turned 35. These days though, these cats retiring at 27, 28, 29, and I'm like, "Good Lord!" I was undisputed champ at 27.
PC: Do you think we're seeing these guys retire early because they are more aware now about the accumulation of punishment or because the money is so much better now that they are able to walk away at a younger age?
CS: I think it's accumulation of punishment and trying to move these guys fast to try and get to the money. They be wanting the money fights, so they fight a lot of tough fights to expand their brand to make money. When you do that, you take a lot of punishment to your body. The body can only take so much.
PC: You called me raving about Deontay Wilder's last performance. What impressed you so much about him?
CS: To keep it 100, I think Deontay Wilder put on a terrific show. It's what the United States needed, to have a heavyweight put on a show. No matter how he put on the show, by dancing, being in a tough fight, whatever, United States heavyweight boxing needed that. Deontay Wilder ain't the average heavyweight. He hits hard and he's got nice fast hands for a heavyweight. I think he needs to grow a little bit, but that's all in time. I think he will give any heavyweight problems because of his hand speed and his punching power.
PC: We have spoke about this before, but when I watched Adrien Broner's last fight, his ring intros remind me of you so much.
CS: Adrien like my lil' brother, man. I don't knock him for nothing he doing. He selling himself, getting this paper in more than one way. He brings his own element because he took something from every fighter that he kind of looked up to. He took the dancing from me, he took the arrogance and the money and showing off from Floyd, and he added his own element as far as the rapping and going in tours with rappers and stuff like that. He mixed that all together and you got AB (laughing)!
PC: Cotto-Canelo is the next big fight on the docket. Will youth prevail or is experience key in your opinion?
CS: Man, I got the old man! I got Cotto! I'm going with the old man. I think people discredit Cotto talking about his age. They wasn't saying that about Floyd and Cotto is in the same age bracket. Why can't Cotto do the same things that Floyd did? Cotto actually punches much harder. Man, listen, Cotto is a beast! I was the reason why Cotto first got on TV. I met Cotto back when we were both signed with Top Rank. When I met Cotto, he couldn't even speak English. We was both basically doing sign language to speak with each other and I was like, "I'll make sure that you get on TV." For him to get on TV, I had to knock my guy out, and I went out there and did that and then Cotto went out and knocked his guy out and that was the beginning of Cotto. I'll never forget; we were in Austin, Texas.
PC: I know you have been enjoying a lot of great amateur boxing out there in Florida. You see anything you like, man?
CS: I think it's beautiful right now. This is a crazy statement, but my favorite two fighters that's in boxing today is Andre Ward and this amateur named Antonio Vargas. That's my favorite two boxers that's boxing today. And that's crazy to say about an amateur. He's nice, man; fast hands and he got good defense. He's from Tampa, Florida and his name is Antonio Vargas! He beat the Cuban in the finals of the Pan American Games. It's been awhile since the USA had an Olympic Gold Medalist. I think this kid going to change that.
PC: I'll be looking out for him. That's high praise coming from you Jinx. Anything you want to add before I let you go?
CS: I just want to say to the boxing fans, boxing ain't going nowhere. It's been around and I think it's going to get even more exciting by them showing it more on TV. I love where it's headed.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]