Unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr has been charged with driving while intoxicated in connection with a one-car accident early on Thursday morning in Dallas, authorities said.
Spence was hospitalized and listed in critical condition after flipping his Ferrari while traveling “at a high rate of speed” northbound on Riverfront Boulevard near Interstate 80 just before 3am, but managed to escape the accident with no broken bones despite not wearing a seatbeat and getting thrown from the vehicle.
“Mr Spence has been released from the hospital and will need to address those charges,” a Dallas police spokesperson said in a statement to the Guardian on Wednesday. “As for getting a speed of the vehicle, we will not be getting one. It was a single car accident with no other criminal charges.”
Spence, a 2012 US Olympian and native of the Dallas suburb of DeSoto, is widely regarded as one of the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers. He unified the IBF and WBC welterweight championships with a thrilling split-decision victory over Shawn Porter last month in Los Angeles, improving his professional record to 26-0 with 21 knockouts and cementing himself as a pay-per-view attraction.
He first won the IBF title with an 11th-round knockout of Kell Brook at Bramall Lane in May 2017.
