Danny Garcia was as encouraged as anyone to learn Errol Spence Jr. plans to go straight to a tough fight in 2020.
Spence mentioned Garcia and Manny Pacquiao as the two opponents he most wants to face in his first fight after an October 10 car accident caused facial lacerations and dental damage to the star southpaw. The unbeaten IBF/WBC welterweight champion returned to the gym earlier this month and told FOX’s Brian Kenny during a live interview Saturday night that he has been cleared medically to resume all boxing training.
Philadelphia’s Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) is training for a lower-profile fight against Ukraine’s Ivan Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) on January 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Like Spence (26-0, 21 KOs), Garcia also is very interested in fighting Pacquiao if he defeats Redkach in a bout Garcia is heavily favored to win next month.
Garcia wants a chance to knock off Spence, too, something the former WBC welterweight champ made clear when he challenged Spence in the ring following Spence’s split-decision victory over Shawn Porter on September 28 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“Right now, my mindset is January 25th, on Ivan Redkach,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com. “And after that, we’ll see. We don’t know. We’ll see if [Spence is] better. If he’s better, then we’ll fight. If not, then life goes on and we’ll fight somebody else.”
Terence Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs), the WBO champion, is the welterweight virtually every boxing enthusiast wants Spence to fight in 2020. Spence spoke more during his interview with Kenny about boxing Garcia or Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), but he did mention Crawford.
The 2012 Olympian also stated that he plans to fight again either late in the spring or early in the summer. Spence doesn’t want a tune-up fight, either, even though he’d be well within reason to expect one to find out how his body reacts in an actual fight.
“My body actually feel good,” Spence told Kenny. “I took some time off, and now I think I’m rejuvenated and I’m ready to get back in the gym and train hard, and hopefully fight one of the top fighters. I don’t want a tune-up fight. I either wanna fight Pacquiao, or if Garcia win the fight [against Redkach], I wanna fight Danny Garcia. I was supposed to fight him in January, but, you know, I had my accident. So, that’s a guy that I’m looking to fight.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.