With his next fight at junior middleweight, is this the end of Errol

Errol Spence Jr.’s next fight won’t come against Terence Crawford, and it won’t even take place for Spence’s three welterweight titles.

Instead, Spence will meet Keith Thurman in a junior middleweight bout that’s expected to take place in April, sources told ESPN. A matchup between Spence and Thurman was highly sought after years ago when both boxers were at the top of the welterweight division with three titles between them.

After Spence won his first title from Kell Brook via 11th-round KO in May 2017, fans were clamoring for a unification bout with Thurman, but the latter showed no interest. Instead, Thurman didn’t fight for the remainder of 2017 nor in 2018 as he battled injuries to his hands and elbows.

Thurman returned in January 2019 with a tougher-than-expected win over Josesito Lopez before he dropped a split decision to Manny Pacquiao that July. Thurman, 34, has competed only once since, a February decision victory over Mario Barrios.

During that time, Spence established himself as one of the two best welterweights in the world (alongside Crawford) and one of the best boxers in the game. He’s currently rated No. 4 pound-for-pound by ESPN.

He returned from a serious car crash that hospitalized him in October 2019 to defeat Danny Garcia. Spence was then set to fight Pacquiao in August 2020 before he required surgery to repair a detached retina.

Spence returned again in April and scored a 10th-round TKO of Yordenis Ugas to add a third welterweight title. He entered negotiations for a highly anticipated undisputed welterweight championship fight against Crawford, but those extended talks failed to deliver a deal.

Now that Spence is moving up to 154 pounds, it’s unclear if we’ll ever see him and Crawford fight. What must take place for that fight to finally materialize? And how do Spence and Thurman match up? An early look at Spence-Thurman:

Will Spence fight at 147 again?

Spence will surely want to see how he feels at 154 pounds before…