The historic career of Errol Spence Jr. came to an end on the evening of July 25, following his unanimous decision loss to Tim Tszyu.
The fight marked Spence’s first fight in three years. He had last fought in Spence’s only other career loss — the undisputed welterweight title clash between him and Terence Crawford.
Spence was able to find success in the first half of the fight, notably working over Tszyu’s body. But Spence was sluggish and slower than the former welterweight champion we’re used to seeing. Meanwhile, as the fight went on, Tszyu’s energy remained intact, and he took more control of the action. Tszyu’s right hand proved to be key for him, as he landed well to the head and body while coming forward with pressure.
Despite a late rally from Spence in the final few rounds, Tszyu took the clear decision on all three judges’ scorecards.
A national champion and Golden Gloves champion as an amateur, Spence competed in the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals. He’d make his pro debut that November, scoring a knockout victory over Jonathan Garcia.
Spence only went the distance three times in his first 21 fights, going unbeaten before challenging Kell Brook for the IBF welterweight title in May 2017. Spence became champion when he knocked out Brook in the 11th round.
Spence made successful title defenses against Lamont Peterson, Carlos Ocampo, and Mikey Garcia before adding more hardware when he defeated Shawn Porter in September 2019 to add the WBC welterweight title.
Spence’s career was then briefly halted a month later after the drunk-driving crash that put him in the hospital for about a week, spending time in an intensive care unit. He returned to the ring in December 2020, defeating Danny Garcia.
Spence then became WBA (Super) champion with a win over Yordenis Ugas in 2022, but he failed to capture the WBO title — and become undisputed champion — when he lost to Crawford in 2023.
