Errol Spence says he was sparring to prepare for his fight with Manny Pacquiao when he felt something wrong with his right eye. The two-belt world welterweight champion remembers putting his hand over his eye and telling others there was a problem.
Spence did not know the extent of his injury and was sparring again two days later. He then showed up for a mandatory prefight medical examination the following day.
The doctor told the world champion his eye resembled “dark clouds.” The physician also suggested Spence lay off of sparring until meeting with an eye specialist.
Spence says he talked to PBC founder Al Haymon. He then traveled to Las Vegas, where an ophthalmologist diagnosed him with a retinal detachment.
Spence, 27-0 with 21 knockouts, underwent eye surgery the following day. He would miss out on what may have been the biggest fight of his career, but Spence feels fortunate.
“I´m glad I caught it,” Spence explains. “I would have still tried to spar, and it would have damaged it permanently.” Spence captures the gravity of the situation when he says, “It´s a career-ending injury for a lot of other fighters.”
The eye injury is not the first time serious adversity to threaten Spence`s boxing career. The elite fighter nearly lost his life two years ago in a single-car accident. Spence was thrown from the vehicle when it flipped and spent a week in intensive care.
The eye specialist attending to Spence believes the injury could be the result of the accident. Spence fought Danny Garcia a year after the accident, but no ophthalmologist exam was necessary to clear him for the fight.
Errol Spence admits to having trouble with his peripheral vision before his injury diagnosis. He said, “a little curtain” seemed to cover his vision. “Being a boxer, I didn´t wanna say anything about that,” Spence explains.
Spence says he is not allowed to train at this time. “I can´t do nothing but walk.” He knows it will be a while before he can spar or fight again but is hoping to resume light training in about three weeks.
Errol Spence is in good spirits and sure of his comeback. “I´ve come back from worse.”