SPENCE: I’M OUT TO CUT KELL SHORT
ERROL SPENCE JNR fell in love with boxing watching Lennox Lewis fights in a local barber shop.
And tonight the American will look to prove he is a cut above the rest in the welterweight division by dethroning IBF king Kell Brook.
Unbeaten Spence, 27, would go with his Jamaican dad to watch British heavyweight star Lewis in big fights when he was a kid at the local barber shop in Texas with around 20 other locals.
The pair would often be the only ones supporting Lewis, who was born to Jamaican parents, when the former heavyweight champion was taking on big American stars Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
Spence said: “The barber shop used to hold fights every Saturday. This is back in the 90s when heavyweight boxing was big.
Cheering
“All the guys would come around and I’m just a little kid there and watching boxing with grown folks.
“A barber shop in America is like a man cave. It’s where men go to talk about what’s going on at home, talk about life, sports, everything.
“When Lennox was fighting people like Evander Holyfield everyone would be cheering them and me and my dad would be supporting Lennox.”
Spence’s love for Lewis will be put to the test in a face-off with the former heavyweight king in the next few weeks for what will be a different type of one-on-one duel.
He said: “I’ve met him a couple of times, he’s a cool dude. We are supposed to be playing chess sometime when we get some spare time.
“I think I’ll beat him. I used to play a lot when I was younger but I stopped when I had two little girls, and boxing – there’s a lot of stuff going on.”
First up is facing IBF champion Brook, though, and his first fight in the UK since he lost his London 2012 quarterfinal here and failed to land an Olympic medal.
Spence arrived in the UK two weeks ago and insists the locals have welcomed him to Sheffield, while the current heatwave has also been a help for the Texas native.
He added: “I’m from Texas. We train in 100 degree weather. It’s hot, dry heat, so I’m happy the weather is warm.”
However, the thunderstorms and rain forecast for today may make him feel less welcome.