Errol Spence Jr. vs. Carlos Ocampo – Results

By Trevor McIntyre: IBF welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. (25-0, 21 KOs) made the International Boxing Federation look bad tonight in stopping their IBF mandatory challenger Carlos Ocampo (22-1, 13 KO) in the 1st round on Saturday night in a huge mismatch at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

In response to some body shots from Ocampo, an irritated Spence nailed him back with a hard left to the body that sent the little known Mexican fighter to the canvas. Ocampo, 22, was in agony on the canvas, too hurt to get back to his feet, so the fight was then halted by referee Lawrence Cole. The time of the stoppage was at 3:00 of round 1. Ocampo looked like he wanted to try to get up, but he was in too much pain to continue fighting.

While it was a good thing for Spence’s boxing fans to see him score a knockout, the fight’s quick ending wasn’t likely what the fans wanted to see. They wanted to see the contest go a lot longer than just 1 round, but unfortunately the inexperienced Ocampo wasn’t able to handle it when Spence started hitting him back. Ocampo could dish it out with his own body shots, but he couldn’t take it when he started getting hit in return with body shots. In hindsight, Ocampo would have been better to keep his shots aimed towards Spence’s head, because once he started throwing body shots, it would clear that he was going to get hit with the same kinds of shots in return. Spence is considered the best body puncher in the 147 lb. division by far. That’s why it was foolish for Ocampo to try and fight Spence’s fight, because it was clear that he was going to get hit with something that he couldn’t handle once he started playing with fire.

The knockout for Spence was his 11th consecutive stoppage since 2014. As good as Spence looked tonight, it could be a long time before someone is able to last the 12 round distance against him unless they choose to run,

Ocampo wasn’t going to roll over and let Spence blast him out without trying to fight him back. Ocampo thought he could beat Spence if he slugged with him. It didn’t work out the way he wanted to. Ocampo landed some good shots in the round that clearly got Spence’s attention. If not for Spence landing two consecutive hard body shots that ended the fight at 2:59 of round 1, Ocampo would have done almost enough to win the round. For an obscure fighter with an inflated ranking with the IBF that he clearly didn’t rate, Ocampo had a pretty good 1st round until the moment he was knocked out.

14,200 boxing fans were in attendance to see Spence face the little known Ocampo. You can argue that Ocampo helped bring in a lot of those boxing fans, as there were a lot of fans that seemed to be rooting for him during the fight.

Spence says he wants to unify the division by going after the winner of the Shawn Porter vs. Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman and Terence Crawford.