Roy Jones Jr suspects that Errol Spence Jr came away with the results he was searching for, despite losing a unanimous decision to Tim Tszyu last weekend.
The two former world champions squared off at Sydney’s Afterpay Arena, where Spence was returning from a three-year layoff following his ninth-round stoppage defeat to Terence Crawford.
This time, though, the former welterweight ruler was fighting at 160lbs after requesting a jump from their originally-agreed catchweight of 158lbs.
But while this allowance should have worked to his advantage it was ultimately Tszyu, a former super-welterweight champion, who seemed physically and athletically superior on the night.
This, of course, was largely due to Spence’s inactivity and age, with the 36-year-old seemingly coming to terms with retirement during his post-fight interview.
There was also a hint of satisfaction expressed by the American, who was perhaps focusing more on his performance than the actual result.
He did, after all, manage to hear the final bell without incurring any significant injuries, which, given this stage in his life, could be seen as an achievement in itself.
Speaking on ALL THE SMOKE FIGHT, pound-for-pound legend Jones – who had favoured Spence to win – suspects this to be the case.
“Errol is who Errol wants to be; Errol did it like Errol wanted to do it. Errol wanted to prove that he can go back and do exactly what he’s been doing his whole career – taking stuff from people in their hometown.
“And, if he didn’t win it, he still went out on his feet. He had a lot of things he wanted to prove to himself.
“He didn’t get the result [against Tszyu] that we all thought he wanted to get, but he got the results that he wanted – to say: ‘Now, I can rest in peace’.”
During his own post-fight interviews, Tszyu expressed an interest in remaining at middleweight and even called out Erislandy Lara, the division’s WBA champion.
