When Errol Spence enters the ring with Sebastian Fundora in October, he will face a triple defeat.

And that doesn’t even include his opponent.

Spence will fight for the first time in 14 months, another long break in a career that has featured three other extended absences. This will be his fifth appearance in the last five years.

He will lose by technical knockout to Terence Crawford. A fight in which Spence was dominated and was dropped three times – once in the second round and twice in the seventh – before being stopped in the ninth round.

He will essentially debut in a recent weight class, moving up to junior middleweight after spending almost his entire career at or just above the welterweight limit of 147 pounds. Spence’s last junior middleweight appearance was a brief stint in September 2015, when he weighed in at 156.5 pounds and defeated Chris Van Heerden.

Each of these, taken individually, would be reason enough for a boxer to take a tune-up fight.

Long break? Shake off the rust.

Bad beating? Find out how much this loss could have taken from your body. Also take care of your mind by regaining your self-confidence.

Are you moving to a recent branch? Get used to the extra weight and opponents who may be bigger, hit harder and take their own shots better.

But that’s not what Spence will do against Fundora. Generally, Spence doesn’t do that. This isn’t the first time Spence has made this kind of comeback. He did the same in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

What Spence is doing is not expected. Therefore, what he does deserves recognition.

In addition to this unholy trinity of obstacles, this will also be Spence’s first fight with a recent trainer after working with Derrick James, a relationship that dates back to his amateur days. This pairing ended after Crawford’s defeat against James sues Spence claiming he owed him money Spence filed a counterclaim.

Spence and his recent trainer will have to prepare for Fundora, the top junior middleweight. Fundora’s 6-foot-6-inch frame is so unconventional that Tim Tszyu suffered a nasty cut from an accidental self-inflicted foul when they met in March this year – not from a clash of heads, but from Tszyu leans into Fundora’s elbow.

Spence entered the ropes behind Tszyu-Fundora, which suggested he would be next. Except Tszyu and Fundora verbally agreed to a rematch clause when Fundora stepped in at brief notice to replace Keith Thurman. The Fundora team seemed intent on honoring this.

Plans have changed.

Tszyu signed with Vergil Ortiz on August 3 in Los Angeles, but just withdrawn due to injury. Crawford deemed a rematch with Spence unlikely. The WBO ordered Fundora to defend his newly won world title against Crawford, but Crawford will instead face Israil Madrimov for the WBA junior middleweight belt. Madrimov vs. Crawford headlines the August 3 gala.

All of this opened the door for Spence to face Fundora. It’s also possible that Fundora-Spence would be next regardless.

Either way, it’s no surprise that Spence decided to walk through that door.

After Spence defeated Shawn Porter in a unification bout in 2019, his goal was to fight Danny Garcia, a former lineal junior welterweight champion and former welterweight titleholder who remained a viable contender at 147. However, Spence was hospitalized after a horrific car accident. Footage of the crash shows Spence being thrown from the vehicle. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. In addition to the legal issues, there were concerns about whether Spence would even be able to fully recover, never mind whether he would be able to return to the ring.

Just three months after the crash, Spence talked about resuming his career. He named Garcia and Manny Pacquiao.

“I don’t want to fight for change. I want to fight at the highest level” Spence said in December 2019. Although he wasn’t scheduled to fight again until December 2020, 14 months after the crash, he did fight Garcia.

“No one forced me to fight Danny Garcia. I could have improved. But I wanted someone threatening who would keep me focused, in the gym and training strenuous.” Spence said a few days before their match. “If I took the fight for good measure or someone to beat, I feel like it wouldn’t be 100 percent fire. Of course I would like to win and I would love to win, but fighting someone with a large name like Danny Garcia and a great fighter like Danny Garcia just pushed me to another level and pushed me to the level where I needed to be.

Spence defeated Garcia via unanimous decision. His next fight was against Manny Pacquiao in August 2021. Instead, he had to withdraw from the fight after suffering a torn retina during sparring. Yordenis Ugas stepped in and sent Pacquiao into retirement.

When Spence returned, he headed straight for Ugas.

“You know, I almost had two career-ending injuries.” Spence said just before this match. “You know, I feel like I’m on borrowed time right now. So, you know, I can’t just sit there and have an equalizing fight and then, God forbid, something happens or something like that. So send me straight with the other sharks, you know? I feel like Ugas, he is a tough fighter and he will come to fight. He will push me to that level.”

Spence stopped Ugas in the 10th round of their fight, adding a third world title to his collection. The fourth belonged to Crawford. There has been talk of a fight between these two pound-for-pound list denizens for years. It will take a little more time and more negotiations before they finally end up in the same ring.

Meanwhile, Crawford met and defeated David Avanesyan. Spence syndrome I watched the Thurman fight. This fight did not take place. Spence was in another car accidentbut not his fault, but rather due to another driver hitting Spence’s vehicle.

“I don’t believe in fine-tuning. They’re not with my pedigree and they’re fighting someone I know I should beat and I know it’s an exhibition fight.” Spence was quoted as telling ES News in early 2023. “And I feel like the fans deserve it too. They don’t want to see me fight a guy or an exhibition fight. They want to see me fight the best in the business.”

That’s what fans got when Spence and Crawford finally came to terms. They met in July 2023. Crawford was more busy; his victory over Avanesyan had occurred less than eight months earlier. Spence hasn’t fought in over 15 months, starting with the Ugas fight.

After Spence’s loss, some wondered if inactivity had a factor. It’s quite possible that was the case. Spence said it later his timing “was a little off”, although it may have had as much to do with Crawford’s knowledge as Spence’s ring rust.

At least for Spence, inactivity was never an excuse. However, this quote from May 2023 – in response to another question about tuning – refers to this situation:

“You have an 8-10 week training camp. If I’m not good enough in those 8-10 weeks, then damn.” Spence said. “I have 8-10 weeks to prepare for the fight. Sparring and preparations for a fight. I should be there. I don’t need another fight to stay piercing and on point.”

Not everyone shares Spence’s approach. And that’s okay. Players and their teams have different perspectives and prerogatives. We’ve heard many boxers talk about how they felt in the ring after a long layoff, the difference between the rounds they received in training camp and the rounds they received after the bell rang on fight night. We have seen fighters improve when they are more busy. We also saw players who came back regenerated after the break.

Just because someone is an exception – and that exception is exceptional – doesn’t mean they should be the standard. For example, a fighter who struggles with a stern injury during a fight deserves praise. That doesn’t mean the player who decides to call it a night deserves criticism.

For Spence, his approach remains the same, even if his situation is different. He suffered his first professional defeat. He is 34 years ancient, an age that is considered to be the end of the prime of most boxers’ careers. Fighters of this era, even when completely hearty, are much less busy than boxers from previous eras. This option is available. Spence takes it. Even if doing so means taking a chance.

Inaction. The potential for lasting harm, physical or psychological, from the loss with Crawford. Recent weight category. Recent coach. An unconventional opponent. Then there it is cataract surgery Spence underwent earlier this year. Some have wondered if the car accident and the fatigue that has accumulated over a career in combat sports have made Spence paler than he cares to admit.

This makes it seem like the deck is stacked against Spence. Perhaps Spence is assuming that the cards will still be dealt in his favor. Or that he is doing everything in his power to augment his chances.

It’s possible that Spence will regain his strength at 154 with seven pounds of weight relief.

It is possible that failure will add even more motivation and give the player a reality check who realized he wasn’t living like a boxer should.

It’s possible he’ll be inspired by a recent weight class, a recent set of opponents and challenges to overcome, and overcoming one of those recent challenges will set up a rematch with the ancient one if Crawford defeats Madrimov.

This is all a combination of speculation and conjecture. The only thing that matters is proof.

Spence’s career as a professional prize fighter has been about living up to his potential, a boxer who lost at the 2012 Olympics but was thought to be better suited to the paid ranks, a fighter who was nicknamed “Truth” and who started to withdraw is to go up.

Spence won three of the four welterweight world titles and was no worse than the next best at 147 pounds, beaten only by one of the most talented boxers of his generation.

Is it still “Truth”? The truth is that we won’t find out until October. Neither did Spence. Depending on when exactly the Fundora fight is scheduled, that’s another four to five months.

This is another reason to skip tuning. Either way, we will know answers about Errol Spence before the end of 2024. Whether he wins or loses, we’ll move on to the next question:

“What’s next?”