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ERROL SPENCE'S TRAINER ANALYZES WIN OVER BUNDU: "KEITH WAS BEAT UP...WITH ERROL, IT WAS LITTLE DIFFERENT"

By Percy Crawford | August 25, 2016
ERROL SPENCE'S TRAINER ANALYZES WIN OVER BUNDU:

"Keith was beat up after the fight and with Errol, it was a little different. Once he established his jab, he was able to control the distance and that was the deciding factor of the fight...He's not really concerned about fighting Kell Brook as much as he is worried about being a world champion. If he vacates, that's fine; if he keeps the title, then whatever. Errol just wants to be the champ. However it plays out or whatever happens, he wants that IBF title and then move on and be the unified champion," stated Derrick James, world-class trainer of undefeated welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr., who talked about their recent win over Leonard Bundu, their future plans and more. Check it out!

PC: A lot of talk about Errol Spence right now. He put on a great performance against Leonard Bundu. What did you think of the way the fight played out?

DJ: I think we had a good game plan. I knew he would be herky jerky because I saw that on tape, but when you see it in person, it takes awhile to adjust to that. I always say throw the jab, but I didn't want him to throw it like double jab, triple jab. No, throw the jab and find your jab; jab, jab, jab! If he had to throw 3 jabs to put him into place, I wanted him to find him with the jab. Once he was able to find him with the jab, he was able to start to land the body shots and right hooks and left hooks and uppercuts. In the 5th or 6th round, I said "Listen, you see how when he was on the inside, he didn't do anything; work behind the jab and get close to him and go to the body." That was the difference.

PC: Bundu came out and you could tell he really wanted to pressure Errol and put his back against the ropes. I think a few body shots from Errol changed his mind quickly. At what point did you sense Errol had his number and maybe Bundu was wilting a little bit?

DJ: I think it was around the late 3rd or early 4th round when he started landing that jab. When he couldn't get away from the jab, that's when I realized it. He was landing the jab in the 1st round and I liked that round. I liked the 2nd round, but in the end of the 3rd, he couldn't get away from the jab and when that happened, everything else started to land. Once he established the jab in the 3rd or 4th round, I knew we could do that all day. We could box him, but I knew there was no way he could keep taking those jabs and survive 12 rounds with Errol because Errol was going to land other big shots also.

PC: Before the fight, you said that there was no goal to look better than Keith Thurman did against Bundu from your standpoint. I understand the focus was on the fight in front of you, but was that kind of the mindset heading into that fight?

DJ: I've never had those thoughts. I just care about winning. I don't care about anybody else. I don't put that type of unnecessary pressure or my thoughts or my ideas on my guys. I know those thoughts were in other people's minds, and that's why I didn't mention that. Those were two different kinds of fights. If you look at the end of the fight, Keith Thurman's face was all beat up and swollen, and he moved for 10 rounds; boxed and moved. Errol sat in front of him and used his jab and boxed around him and he didn't have any bruises on his face. So you think about the difference in the fight now when you talk about it. Keith was beat up after the fight and with Errol, it was a little different. Once he established his jab, he was able to control the distance and that was the deciding factor of the fight.

PC: Errol landed a nice upper cut and put Bundu down. The ref somehow missed that and called it a push. Did you realize it was a knockdown or could you not see from the angle you were at?

DJ: I saw that he threw a punch and he went down, but I couldn't tell from what. But I knew he was hurt. I don't believe in rushing a guy because when he's hurt, he can't think, but he's the lion, so he's going to fight and retaliate. So Errol got back on his jab and then he was able to hit him with some good shots and the big shots were landing.

PC: He is now Kell Brook's mandatory. Kell sounds willing to come back to welterweight after his fight with Gennady Golovkin and fight Errol. What are you guys hoping for?

DJ: We just going to keep working. It's business as usual. We won't be really focusing on that fight. He's not really concerned about fighting Kell Brook as much as he is worried about being a world champion. If he vacates, that's fine; if he keeps the title, then whatever. Errol just wants to be the champ. However it plays out or whatever happens, he wants that IBF title and then move on and be the unified champion.

PC: How long will Errol take off from the gym before he gets back in there?

DJ: He's going to take about 2 weeks off. He may not even be able to take 2 weeks off because he's a guy that when he starts to get a little heavy and out of shape, he starts to work out on his own, running and coming to the gym and hitting the bag to keep his weight under control. The fight...I put it like this, to make it to what we saw was tough. Even though it appears to be one thing, Leonard Bundu is a guy you gotta make do things. He's not a quitter; he's not going to quit. So to get Bundu to that point took a lot of work and a lot of effort and mental control. That's stressful in itself and he needs a break to get away from boxing and cool off and get his mind right to prepare for the bigger task and the next task.

PC: You feel that Bundu could still beat a lot of welterweights out there?

DJ: Oh, without a doubt. Listen, he can beat a lot of other welterweights out there. I spoke to another top trainer, I won't say his name, but he told me that somebody called him for a quote of what he thought about Errol's performance and he said, "I thought it was great because it showed another dimension in his boxing game." Paulie Malignaggi said the same thing. "Do we ever think he's going to lose a fight? No! We didn't think he was going to beat the guy like that." He had great eyes in that fight. Did the guy land some punches? Yeah, it's boxing, but he didn't hit him with any damaging shots that hurt him. His defense was on point. It was a great fight for him.

PC: You still feel we haven't seen the best Errol Spence yet?

DJ: Oh no; no without a doubt. What happened was you saw a little bit more because he had to beat a different guy. The better the opposition, the better he will be and there may not be any better opposition than that. I'm being honest. Just because a name on paper may look better doesn't mean the fight will be better. You look at Keith Thurman; he fought Leonard Bundu and when the fight was done, he was all beat up and swollen and he moved the whole 12 rounds. He didn't stand there and fight him. They weren't exchanging. It was a good fight, but there is more to him than that.

PC: I read where you said he could possibly fight Canelo or Daniel Jacobs down the line. Realistically, and I'm talking down the line, how high up in weight do you think we could see him compete at?

DJ: I mean, he could be a middleweight because he's going to grow and it's going to be harder to make the weight. He will get bigger. If those guys are around still, those things can happen. Guys get bigger and older and they are able to carry a certain amount of weight and perform at that level. Over time, he will get bigger. He can't stay at 147 forever. He wants to unify the welterweight title and then possibly move on to other titles.

PC: He looked great. Best of luck to you guys moving forward and I look forward to continuing to see him progress under your tutelage. Is there anything else you want to add?

DJ: Thanks everybody for watching. We did ridiculous numbers. We had the most watched boxing match in boxing history. Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao had 4.4 million viewers and his had over 6 million. I want to thank everybody, all of the fans that watched the fight; new fans and old fans. Thank you!



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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