Spence is scheduled to return against Tim Tszyu on July 25 in Australia. While many observers have focused on the damage from his 2023 loss to Terence Crawford and the years spent out of the ring, Prograis believes another factor could be just as important.
“If he said that already, one foot out, it’s going to be hard to come back in,” said Prograis to The Punch Podcast. “What makes you fall in love again? What makes you be obsessed with that again? If you did everything already?
“Tim Tszyu, they’re not fighting for a belt. They’re not fighting for what? Just a lot of money. If you do it for the money, that’s always the wrong reason.”
Prograis pointed out that Spence has already accomplished more than most fighters ever will, making it difficult to know whether the former welterweight champion can recapture the mindset that helped him become one of boxing’s elite names.
“The old Errol Spence man was a killer, bro. People forget how good Errol Spence really was. Errol was a dog at one point in time. He was really a real killer in the ring,” said Prograis.
“If the old Errol comes back, I think I got Errol Spence by a landslide.”
Prograis also noted that age eventually catches every fighter, regardless of talent.
“The speed leave you. The speed will leave you. Power always be there,” said Prograis. “The reflexes, they do leave. That’s the main thing you need in boxing. The reflexes, the foot speed, the hand speed.”
Spence’s inactivity has often been linked to the Crawford defeat, but Prograis suggested motivation may be the bigger question. Fighters who still need titles, money, or recognition usually find their way back quickly. Spence already has all three.
That is why his fight with Tszyu may reveal less about what Crawford took from him and more about whether boxing still gives him something worth chasing.
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