The 36-year-old from DeSoto, Texas, retired following a one-sided loss to Tim Tszyu in his middleweight debut over the weekend in Sydney after a three-year layoff.

Now, the former IBF, WBA, and WBC welterweight champion will have to wait to see whether he gets a call from the International Boxing Hall of Fame in three years, or more if he doesn't enter on the first ballot.

For some, Spence hasn’t done quite enough to earn induction. For others, including Andre Ward, a 2021 Hall of Famer in his own right, there should be no debate. Spence has victories over Kell Brook, Lamont Peterson, Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and Ugas.

“Yes,” Ward told The Ring. “I believe he should be a Hall of Famer. ... He had a great career. He’s one of the last of a dying breed that will get down with anybody. He’s taken more risks post-car wreck than some guys have in their whole careers.

Spence had at least one piece of the welterweight championship from 2017 to 2023. When he was at his best, the DeSoto, Texas, resident was an aggressive, come-forward fighter who threw punches in bunches.

However, on the biggest night of his career, he went down three times and was knocked out in nine rounds by Terence Crawford in July 2023. That brutal setback, as well as a horrific car crash that could've cost him his life in 2019, seemed to have truncated his career as an elite fighter.

Spence (28-2, 22 KOs) did have some success after the accident. He returned from a one-year break, giving him time to recover, to outpoint two-division champion Garcia in December 2020 and then added his final title (WBA) by stopping Ugas a year and a half later.

However, he never won another fight and finished his career with two lopsided losses. Still, Ward doesn’t believe he has anything to be ashamed of.

"I respect him deeply," Ward said. "He did everything that he has to do. And now he can ride off into the sunset.”