Keith Thurman On ‘Leaked’ Errol Spence Sparring Video: “It Should Have Been Private”

By: Sean Crose

“It popped in my feed,” Keith Thurman says of a video apparently making the rounds showing Errol Spence sparing in preparation for his fight with Manny Pacquiao in late August. “It was too juicy not to click it,” Thurman tells FightHype. There is indeed a video on social media, grainy and somewhat unfocused, showing someone who appears to be Spence sparring in head gear with an unknown sparring partner. The sparring partner uses effective aggression and lands well on at least one occasion. “I bet they pulled it down,” says Thurman of the video. “They should have pulled it down.”

“We’re talking about Errol Spence and his sparring partner, Little Pac Jr,” says Thurman in the interview. “Little Pac Jr was jumping in putting hands on him and that didn’t look good to the people, especially me, who is rooting for Errol to take out the old with the new.” Thurman, who has fought and lost to Pacquiao, has eyes on Spence himself. “I still think you and me is a great fight in the future,” he says. Thurman also points out that he’s not happy with rumors of Pacquiao running for President of his Filipino homeland. “I can’t hate on him if he was to take the fight, take the win, and be out (of boxing),” says Thurman. “It is what it is. But because of that, it doesn’t sit right for me, and I want EJ to win the fight.”

Still, Thurman admits that the footage in the leaked video in question, is notable. “Seeing how he let his sparring partner jump in on him,” says Thurman “get on the inside, put three pieces together, that’s Pacquiao’s specialty. That’s exactly where he excels at. That’s what he wants.”

Yet Thurman admits that he has his suspicions regarding Errol’s notable sparring performance. “The only thing about the ‘leaked’ sparring is we don’t know what that day was like for Errol,” Thurman says. “We don’t know if he did bag work before that round, we don’t know if there was another sparring partner before that sparring partner….there’s so much we don’t know for the ‘leaked’ information.” In other words, the video is notable, but not THAT notable.

“I still expect Errol Spence to come fully prepared and ready to trade punches against the legendary Pacquiao,” Thurman says, “and I still think he (Spence) has the power, the pop, and the ability from his history of his armature career and that Olympic background that he should be able to handle himself in that ring. So we’ll see.” Ultimately, however, Thurman is not happy that the video has been leaked.

“Whoever filmed that in that gym should never be allowed to walk back into that gym,” he says. “That person should be fully kicked out of that gym.”

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