“The guy is kind of jealous of me,” Spence told KO Artist Sports. “You look at me with PBC and Golden Boy. He was jealous of me. The proof is in the pudding.”
Spence tied that view to activity, noting that he could call for a fight and have one take place immediately, while Jermell Charlo went without one.
“There’s a reason why he hasn’t had a fight, and there’s a reason why I can say, ‘Hey, I want a fight,’ then I fight tomorrow,” Spence said.
The Texas welterweight also questioned Charlo’s standing with fans, suggesting that the lack of movement in his schedule is no accident.
“People are tired of giving him fights,” Spence said. “Where can Jermell fight and sell out? He can’t fight in Houston and sell out. So where does he fight?”
Spence certainly taps into a narrative that has been brewing in the boxing world for a while. By calling out Jermell’s inactivity, he hits a sore spot, because in this sport, staying relevant is almost as difficult as staying undefeated.
Spence highlights a harsh truth about the business side. While Jermell was uncontested at 154, Spence has always had a more consistent pull. Even after a long layoff and a tough loss to Terence Crawford, Spence bounces right back into a big fight against Tim Tszyu on July 25th.
Errol’s comment that Jermell couldn’t sell out Houston is a direct shot at his status as a hometown attraction. Spence successfully packed out AT&T Stadium in Texas, and he uses that as leverage to say that Jermell just doesn’t have the “star power” to make the dates coming up.
Spence added that the tension between them could eventually be resolved in the ring, but stopped short of naming a timeline.
