During this conversation with Fight Hub TV, Errol Spence’s trainer Derrick James discusses the big upcoming welterweight showdown against Manny Pacquiao and his expectations for the bout. James says both Spence and Pacquiao have been training for quite some time now and he’s not expecting anything less than the best version of Pacquiao for the title fight. Check out some of what James had to say below.
James on how training camp with Spence has been coming along
“It’s going phenomenal. Just working, digging deep. He started going to the gym — he fought Danny (Garcia) on Saturday, on Sunday he went running…he didn’t come (to the gym) Monday, but on Tuesday, he’s been in the gym ever since then.”
On Spence landing the marquee fight he wanted in Pacquiao
“I think that a lot of times in life people always ask for something when they really don’t deserve it or they’re really not prepared to receive it. And it never really happens, right, because you’re really not ready to receive it but with this one, he’s been ready, he’s been prepared, this is what he’s really been wanting was this type of fight, this fight in particular. So I’m happy, I’m happy for him.”
On if he’s expecting Pacquiao to be rusty coming off a long layoff
“Manny Pacquiao is so smart and he’s been training for like months and months and months. So he knows what he wants. He knows you just can’t train for a fight and train for like a couple days, six to eight weeks. He’s been training for months so he’s gonna be ready, man. We won’t see any rust on him and I think he’s like a Bernard Hopkins type of fighter. B-Hop very intelligent, very smart, and the older he got the better he got. But I think they’re two different type of fighters because Bernard is more technical and Manny, his athleticism is his greatest (asset) and his tenacity, is what he leans on the most.
