This Saturday, June 16, 2018, unbeaten IBF Welterweight world champion Errol Spence Jr. will defend his title in front of his hometown fans as he makes his mandatory defense against undefeated challenger, Carlos Ocampo.
While Spence Jr. did not know who Carlos Ocampo was when the fight was first presented, the man known as “The Truth” did not hesitate in taking the fight so that he can hopefully handle business and then move forward to bigger stars in the division.
“My original thought was just, let’s do it,” said Spence Jr. “I’d rather get it out of the way now so it’s not a bump in the road later on when I’m trying to get bigger and better fights. So I’d rather get my mandatory out the way right now.”
While Spence Jr. says Ocampo does not seem to possess any one character trait that stands out in the ring, he is excepting the normal tough-as-nails style that most Mexicans bring to the table.
“I found tapes on him. There’s nothing that you just see that’s special but I mean the guy comes to fight,” said Spence Jr. “He’s young, he’s undefeated and he’s fighting for a world title. Mexican fighters are known to be tough, they’re known to be durable and they’re known to come to fight.”
As far as bigger-and-better fights, many people are now seemingly solely focused on Spence Jr. taking on newly crowned WBO Welterweight champion, Terence Crawford.
When asked about his opinion regarding Crawford’s dominant performance this past Saturday over former undefeated titleholder Jeff Horn, Spence Jr. says he feels “Bud” did what he was supposed to.
“Even a week before their fight I said Terence Crawford stops him,” said Spence Jr. “I wasn’t surprised about what he did in there to Jeff Horn. I feel like Jeff Horn has limited ability and he basically tried to come there and just bully you. I think he lacks a lot of fundamentals, but he did what he’s supposed to do.”
Regarding a future clash with Crawford, Spence Jr. definitely feels it’s possible because he wants all the belts in the division.
“I think there is definitely a future fight,” said Spence. “He holds one of the belts and like I said I want to be undefeated Welterweight champion of the world so I’m going to have to come over there and snatch the belt from him. It’s a fight that’s going to happen definitely in the future.”
For now, Spence Jr. must take care of undefeated mandatory challenger Carlos Ocampo this Saturday, June 16 from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
The Showtime Championship Boxing telecast begins at 9:00 pm, EST and features Super Bantamweight world champion Daniel Roman defending his belt against unbeaten Moises “Chucky” Flores.
Opening up the telecast will be former world champion Javier Fortuna clashing with Adrian Granados in a 10-round 140-pound special attraction.
Header photo by Porfirio Barron Jr./RBRBoxing
