Wednesday 24 May 2017 09:43, UK
Errol Spence Jr is the latest challenger to try and take Kell Brook's IBF welterweight title, so here is everything you need to know about him... and a little bit more.
Errol Spence Jr was actually born in Long Island, New York, on January 13, 1990. His parents moved the family to DeSoto soon after.
DeSoto? Where is that?
A small town in Dallas County, Texas. Just south of Dallas. Errol Jr still lives in the family house, even though his parents have moved.
Think again. The one and only George Foreman was born there for a start. Move forward, and Eric Molina, Anthony Joshua victim and the record-breaking twin brothers, Jermell and Jermall Charlo, are also natives of 'the Lone Star State'. Jermall is a friend, gym-mate and sparring partner of Spence Jr, and is over here as part of his team.
Unless you're an American Football fan and a Dallas Cowboys wannabe - Spence Jr was, initially at least, before he got the boxing bug. In fact, it was none other than Lennox Lewis that got Spence Jr interested, as he and his Jamaican-born father used to watch Lewis' blockbuster fights at home.
Around the age of 15 - and he never looked back. He teamed up with coach Derrick James three years later and he became an amateur star. Spence Jr won two US National Championships, the latter securing him a spot at London 2012.
Well, Spence Jr was one of the hottest prospects to cross the pond, but like the rest of them, he failed to pick up a medal. A surprise 16-11 loss to Russia's Andrey Zamkovoy in the quarter-finals shattered his Olympic dream. He turned pro the following November.
Pretty much. Spence Jr admits he can walk around as heavy as 160lbs and actually made his debut at super-welterweight on November 9. He knocked out Jonathan Garcia in the third round on a card that saw Olympic team-mates Dominic Breazeale and Rau'shee Warren also make their debuts.
Spence Jr is also an Anthony Joshua fan. As soon as this fight was signed, he predicted AJ would KO Wladimir Klitschko, then rule boxing. He's not far off.
Britain has a lot of great fighters and I think AJ can take over boxing. Klitschko is crafty but AJ is young and a strong heavyweight. This is his time and it's time for Klitschko to pass the torch.
Well, he has obviously worked his way up to become the IBF mandatory challenger and of his 21 opponents, only one of them had a losing record - and that was only Nathan Butcher's second fight.
Chris Algieri, the former world champion, is the biggest scalp. This is a guy that took both Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan the distance, yet Spence Jr put him down three times to claim a fifth-round win. He then secured the shot at Kell Brook by finishing Leonard Bundu - who took Keith Thurman the distance - off in five.
Well, the Bundu fight apparently pulled in 4.8m viewers on NBC, the highest TV boxing audience the US had seen for over 10 years. Now he makes his box-office debut on these shores.
Not yet at least. You've probably heard the stories about him sparring 'Money' and causing him all sorts of trouble. Mayweather was getting ready to take on Robert Guerrero, a southpaw. Spence Jr had only four or five pro fights by then. He is also supposed to have given Adrien Broner even more trouble.
This is his first pro fight outside of North America, the other one an eighth-round stoppage of Chris van Heerden, in Toronto, Canada. Spence landed in the UK last weekend, and in case you were wondering, it was a 4,650mile trip from DeSoto to Sheffield.
Watch Brook vs Spence Jr, from Bramall Lane, Sheffield, May 27, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the event online here or via your Sky remote.
