Former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr faces a setback had he wanted to return to the ring with a bang against an interim champion.
The 35-year-old from Long Island, New York has not fought since suffering the first defeat of his professional career to Terence Crawford, falling short in his attempt at becoming the undisputed welterweight champion in July 2023.
Prior to that, he had claimed victories over the likes of Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia and Yordenis Ugas, becoming a unified world champion at 147lbs in the process.
Spence had reportedly been in talk to make his comeback at the beginning of the year, but a planned showdown with WBC super-welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora was scrapped.
More recently, Spence was targetted by unbeaten super-welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr, who described the clash his ‘dream fight’. Spence was in attendance to watch Ortiz steamroll Erickson Lubin inside two rounds this past weekend.
However, as reported by Dan Rafael, a potential match-up between Spence and Ortiz appears to be of no interest to broadcaster DAZN. Instead, the company – which has partnerships with both Matchroom, who promote Jaron Ennis, and Golden Boy for Ortiz – is said to be set on making a fight between Ortiz and ‘Boot’s instead.
“Not going to happen. Per source, DAZN, which has dibs on Ortiz fights, will not allow that fight to happen. DAZN is exerting intense pressure on Golden Boy to get the Ennis fight done.”
Not going to happen. Per source, DAZN, which has dibs on Ortiz fights, will not allow that fight to happen. DAZN is exerting intense pressure on Golden Boy to get the Ennis fight done. https://t.co/Mlk9uAdTGF
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) November 10, 2025
This news means that Spence could be left waiting even longer for his highly-anticipated return to the ring, or faced with taking a smaller scale fight – something many in the sport would advise.
