Dre for a fact fought and beat the better comp, but purely from a quality standpoint, whom would you consider better between the two?
Bud fur Sure... Bud Has the ERASER(s) Ward Lacked In His Gloves and Bud Doesn't Have to Rely On as Much JUNK, as Much NEGATIVE Fighting to Be Successful... Bud's Better... REED
Pretty much everything has been said already. Bud is the better fighter, but Wars is the greater fighter.
H2H Crawford is more gifted and probably the “better” fighter, especially offense wise. Ward wasn’t the fastest or most powerful yet he managed to barely lose rounds outside of Sergey Kovalev. He’s fought better named opponents as well such as Froch, Kessler, Dawson, Kovalev. Greater fighter for sure.
What would Bud have to do to be considered ‘greater’ than Ward? What would the opposition need to look like? Would beating Ennis and Charlo be enough? Or would you say he needed to beat more name fighters than that?
Excellent Question... Depends on What "Greater" Means; Is it ACCOMPLISHMENTS, Is it RESUME or a Combination of the Two???...Some Place More Emphasis On One vs. the Other... Ward was a 2-Weight World Champion, Bud 3-Weight...Ward was Never Undisputed, Bud's Done it Twice, Eyeing a Third...To REED, Bud's ALREADY the More Accomplished Fighter....& If He Added the Scalps of "Boogeyman" Boots Ennis AND Charlo, That'd ABSOLUTELY Make Bud Greater Than Ward as Well, in REED's Opinion... REED
Im not so sure Crawford is really the better fighter. The spence fight was very impressive, but bud lost a lot more rounds than ward did. As for greater, its clearly ward at the moment imo, but if bud beats charlo, he has a hell of a case
That's not an interesting fight in the least bit. Castano has nothing for a fighter the level of Crawford. He'd get blown away inside of 6.
That's like just your opinion man. First, Crawford stopped his last 11 opponents. So whomever he fights next is likely to go. Second, 154 is a whole new game. And third, Castano beat Lara and imo beat Charlo in the first fight. Plus he is the perfect measuring stick to tee up a Jermell fight.
You think he should exercise it? On one hand (and typically the only one considered) it makes sense as if he lets it pass chances are not only does a rematch not happen, but nothing will come along that's more lucrative. From a longer terms perspective I think it would be best to let it go. Sure he might do better @ 154, but what exactly is "better"? Not getting totally dominated? Losing but hearing the final bell? Even if he was struggling to make weight health and career wise it might be better to take a softer touch whilst also testing the waters at a new weight class. Shane Mosley didn't get beat up nearly as bad as Spence did, and he was younger when he lost to Forrest twice. Not sure what Errol does if he gets bashed twice back to back and doesn't have the weight excuse (not that he was making excuses) to fall back on.
Spence Will for SURE Exercise the Clause; PRIDE/MONEY, But Mostly PRIDE... For Better or Worse, Spence Would Rather Sustain ANOTHER Epic Ass Whipping Than Leave Things AS IS...He'd Rather Be 0-2 vs Bud, That Way He KNOWS That He Knows...Right Now, He's Not CONVINCED...You Know How Fighter's Are Bruh, It's CUSTOMARY To Justify Taking an L in THEIR Minds...And to Your Point, it's THE Biggest Money Fight for Spence @ the Moment...Hard to Get in the Way When Pride AND Money Fall Into Place Simultaneously.. SHOULD He Exercise the Clause is Another Matter... REED was Blessed Enough to Hang Out @ the Gym the Day Before They Headed to Vegas and He Can HONESTLY Say He Saw NO Residual Effects on Spence...This Was REED's 1st Time Seeing Spence in PERSON Since the Accident, Yet It was the SAME Ol' EJ...People Are Focusing on the DROOPY Eye's and Slurred Speech, But EJ's Always Had Droopy Eye's and Always Had a Slooooooooow Southern Drawl...The Fake TEEF'' From the Accident Exacerbates the Slur a Tad... If He Passes a LEGITIMATE Battery of Tests and Everything's On the Up & Up, What Do You Do???...If Spence's Trainer Took the "Moral" Route, There'd Be 50 More Trainer's Standing In Line...Hell, They're ALREADY Standing In Line, Bashing Derrick James on the Internet...If Spence's Parents Tapped Out, He'd Go On w/the Fight Anyways and Likely Be PISSED @ Them for Not "Supporting" Him, Afterwards... REED
Agreed a 100% Reed. If i was spence family id tell him to retire, but it would kill him for the rest of his life. I dont believe one second that the accident played a role in that fight. He just had a terrible gameplan
Thank you, REED. Like I said, Spence has always had those droopy ass, T-Mac-like eyes. Now people are scrutinizing everything because some pseudo neurologist chimed in on a podcast.
As a Father Himself, REED Would Absolutely HATE to Be Spence's Parents Right Now, Particularly His Mother... But You Absolutely CANNOT Turn Your Back On Your Child; Like You Said, That Would CRUSH Spence...And Not Only Do You Have to SUPPORT Your Child, You Have to Sit RINGSIDE Once Again, Just Like Last Time...Or Else You're Indicating a LACK of Confidence In Him... Somewhere btwn a Rock & a Hard Place; That's Where They Reside Right Now... REED
That's Why REED Posted the Young Pic of Spence in That Video...He's 15 in That Pic...Eye's STILL Droopy... It IS What It IS... REED
Ultimately, REED Would Support His Fighter's Wishes.....AFTER: 1. Making Him Watch the Fight BY HIMSELF 2. Making Him AND His Trainer Watch the Fight BY THEMSELVES From There, If They Can Give REED TANGIBLE Ways Spence Can Be BETTER in the RE (Beyond Merely Being 7 Lbs Heavier), Then You HAVE To Proceed...One of Ray Leonard's Handlers (Pretty Sure it was Janks Morton) DIDN'T Believe Sugar Ray Could Beat Duran, So He Removed HIMSELF From the Mix Prior to Leonard-Duran 2...Ooooops!!! And Sure, On the Flipside, There's the RISK Of FOREVER Compromising Your Fighter in a Situation You Were LEERY Of To BEGIN w/...That Type of GUILT Could Potentially Be UNBEARABLE, Looking His Family in the Face AFTER the Fact, Shit Like That...But @ the End of the Day, REED's an Optimist By Nature, So He'd Support Spence... As His Manager, REED Would Definitely Try to Negotiate an Early 2024 Date Though, as Opposed to December 2023...Spence is Bud's Biggest Money Fight Currently As Well, So He'd Probably Do It... REED
$ is the point. It’s by FAR Spences best ‘buck for the bang’ left in his career. Unless promoters are willing to put up ‘step aside money’ or something to that effect, essentially paying Spence to not exercise it then it will happen. And since Bud doesn’t have a big mainstream marketable opposition lined up then I personally would Count on it.
