In a recent conversation with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, Chris van Heerden breaks down his experience from being in the ring with both Errol Spence and Jaron Ennis, saying that while he’s certain that Ennis is a bigger puncher than Spence, he would still favor Spence to beat Ennis based on his technical ability and experience. Check out some of what he had to say below.
van Heerden on the respective power of Spence and Ennis
“I’ve been hit by Spence a lot. I’ve been hit by Ennis to know that when Ennis touched me, he didn’t drop me but when he hit me I was like ‘oh boy’ and his power is even more than Spence’s power, I’ll tell you that…When Ennis hit me, I got a little scared, in the sense of ‘oh damn, this is different power.’
“Spence is technically just a clean fighter. Spence is nice, the jab, the cross, whatever. It’s 80%, it stings, it’s numb power. Ennis is wild. Ennis jumps in, he’s ferocious, he wild, and when he hit me — the moment he hit me, even when it was my arm, a red light went on and I was like ‘oh, this is why this guy knocks out everyone.’ He’s got power…and the thing that immediately went into my head that round was ‘oh he hits harder than Spence.’
“I took Spence’s power…when Spence hit me I respected his power but I was like ‘this is not enough power, like he doesn’t have the power to single-handedly knock me out.’ I wasn’t aware of that…when Ennis hit me, immediately my mind went to ‘oh shit, I gotta keep my hands up because this kid could knock me out with one punch.’ He’s got power, man. Real power.”
On if he would favor Ennis to beat Spence
“Right now, no. Why not? Why am I saying right now, not? We cannot say Ennis is still up-and-coming, Ennis has got almost 30 fights. He’s not a baby anymore, Ennis is a real fighter. But I think technically sounded, the dynamic of the one-two, the basics, Spence does so well. His defense is good, he hits beautiful. Ennis, I feel is a little bit wild, and a guy like Spence that is such an elite level fighter, he’s gonna make you pay if you’re wild.
“And experience. Spence has fought the names, the bigger names, the better names. And because of that I’m backing Spence to beat Ennis — not knock him out, though. Nah. I don’t think he will knock him out. I think just Spence beats him at the moment.”