“I mean, he didn’t chop it. Like, I mean, in training camp, at the end of the day, training camp was trash,” Spence said on Andre Ward’s channel.
He went on to reveal that he didn’t save for a long period of time before the fight.
“Ask anybody who was in that gym in Vegas. They didn’t see me spar. Nobody saw me spar.. Baby, two weeks out, two, three weeks out, I didn’t spare six weeks out, bro,” Errol said.
Spence also revealed that he is dealing with an injury during camp.
“I had to get a cortisone shot in my ribs because my ribs were hurting,” Spence said.
The comments sparked backlash on social media, with some accusing Spence of making excuses for the loss in July 2023. The 35-year-old later addressed the criticism directly.
Regardless Bud was disciplined and he earned and earned his W…
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) June 16, 2026
Spence continued by explaining that there were tactical areas that were not addressed in preparation for Crawford, who seamlessly switched between orthodox and southpaw stances throughout the fight.
“We don’t do any of that in training camp,” Spence said when discussing Crawford’s southpaw stance. “It was a lot of things that could have been different or could have been prevented. Even if I hadn’t struggled like that, we could have prevented a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened.”
While Spence acknowledged shortcomings in his preparation, he stopped short of suggesting that Crawford’s victory was undeserved. Instead, his follow-up message emphasized that Crawford got the win through discipline and execution on fight night.
Crawford dropped Spence three times before forcing a stoppage in the ninth round of their undisputed welterweight championship fight on July 29, 2023 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The victory made Crawford the first male fighter of the four-belt era to become undisputed champion in two weight classes.
Spence is scheduled to return to the ring on July 25 when he faces Tim Tszyu in a 158-pound catchweight in Australia. The contest will be his first appearance since the loss to Crawford and will provide an opportunity to showcase the adjustments he says he has made to his preparation.
