The Sport of Boxing is about to be robbed of history (Mikey-Loma) due to dumb logic.
Hopefully someone involved in this decision will read this and reassess the reasoning that led them to go down the road of Spence-Mikey before Mikey-Loma and they can still avert making this big mistake. Loma specifically stayed down at 130 for an extra fight so that he could get the exposure from making his one superfight vs a smaller opponent (Rigo) before his next one with a bigger opponent (Mikey) and Mikey would be smart to use the same blueprint, since that Rigo fight is the one that really made Loma cross over to the casual fans and become a household name, resulting in him getting paid a LOT more when he moved up to 135 against the champion there, Linares, than he would have at the time vs Rigo, a blueprint which Mikey would again be smart to study since it parallels him v Spence.
Here are the logical fallacies at the heart of the decision to pursue Spence-Mikey instead of Mikey-Loma, which in my OPINION (only my opinion) would be a huge mistake. Basically, people who stand to profit, I assume, from Mikey-Spence, but not from Mikey-Loma, keep trotting out the line that Mikey-Spence is a smart move because if Mikey loses to Spence, he can just say he was too small and still make the Mikey-Loma fight a year later, and it will be just as big.
So because of this belief, the sport will be robbed of a historic fight for all 4 belts, undisputed, between the P4P King and by far his most difficult opponent within 6 weight classes.
In reality, the opposite of what they are saying is true. If Mikey loses to Loma at 135, he can say Loma was just too small and fast, and if necessary to protect his image for the Spence fight afterwards, Mikey can say he got drained making 135. The Mikey-Spence fight will only be way bigger after Mikey gets the exposure from fighting the P4P King. If Mikey-Loma is as great a fight as we think it will be, they can even do an immediate rematch, and it could become like the next Pacquiao-Marquez rivalry that will make both Loma and Mikey twice as big stars after their fight/s as they were before. There is no telling how much bigger a Mikey-Loma rivalry could make all of Mikey's paydays at 147 in the future, just like how staying at 130 for one more fight vs Rigo, the fight all the fans had wanted to see for years just like Mikey-Loma, made Loma's payday at 135 vs Linares much bigger.
In other words, if Mikey takes the Spence fight now instead of after his one big potential fight at his current weight vs Loma, Mikey will probably leave 75% of his money on the board because right now, casual fans have no idea who he is, whereas if he made his name first vs the P4P King on ESPN, he could demand much more money later on.
I mean, it's ridiculous. Mikey can fight a naturally 25 lbs smaller, non-power punching, bigger name opponent, for more money and way more exposure, become twice as well known, then move up to 147 to fight Spence for three to five times the money he's being offered now, or Mikey can pass on his highest reward, lower risk (in terms of physical harm), star-making fight in his current weight class to instead move up two weight classes, fight the biggest puncher in the weight class, for less money and way less exposure, and instead of making his name twice as big to allow him to get paid three to five times as much money for those fights, he will likely get knocked out, lose tons of luster of his name, lose a third of his market value, and lose probably 50% of his biggest payday, the Lomachenko fight, because no one is going to be half as interested in a fight between the P4P king and someone who just got knocked out at 147 and will probably be weight drained trying to get back down to 135 as they are interested in a fight between the P4P King and his undefeated most difficult opponent.
Put in simpler terms, Mikey-Loma is already a big PPV fight that has been building for years. Mikey-Spence is not a PPV fight and it has not been building for 1/3 as long as Mikey-Loma has, but it can become a PPV fight in the future once Mikey and Spence get more exposure. So why not make the one that is already a PPV fight, Mikey-Loma, and get Mikey the exposure needed to make Mikey-Spence a PPV fight in the future? And on Spence's side, he can likewise take fights with Porter and ultimately Thurman to raise his profile. Then when Mikey moves up, you will have a big PPV fight between the guy everyone knows from fighting Loma on PPV and the guy who everyone knows from fighting Brook, Porter, Thurman, etc.
And if they're worried about Mikey losing to Loma and that hurting the viability of the Spence fight, well Mikey is way more likely to lose to Spence than he is to Loma, so what about Mikey losing to Spence ruining the Loma fight? Shouldn't that be the bigger concern seeing as there is more money to be made off Mikey-Loma than Mikey-Spence, and Mikey-Spence is way more likely to ruin Mikey-Loma than Mikey-Loma is to ruin Mikey-Spence? Why would you take the lower reward option which also comes with the greater risk of ruining the higher reward option? It makes no sense.
Not only does it make no sense on those grounds, but the internal logic is off. If Mikey gets knocked out by Spence, and then has to drain back to 135, you really think fans will overlook that when it comes to their level of excitement for Mikey-Loma? Of course not. But on the other hand, if Mikey were to get outboxed by a smaller faster opponent, that's normal! When Floyd outboxed slower guys, people said it didn't even hurt their reputations because "that's what Floyd does." Well not only is that also what Lomachenko does (minus the cherry picking), but boxing fans also know that it's normal for the smaller boxer to be faster. Amir Khan was faster than Canelo early in their fight, it didn't mean he was better. Kell Brook was faster than GGG. That is normal. The smaller guy can usually outbox the bigger guy, so it's often just a question of whether the bigger guy can catch the little guy.
And if Mikey catches Lomachenko and stops him, Mikey is suddenly the biggest star in boxing and he can command five times as much for the Spence fight. Why would he not play that hand and see where it leads? If Mikey doesn't catch Lomachenko, fans will just say, "that is what Lomachenko does, and that's just the way the coin flipped today. If they fought again, Mikey probably would catch him. If they fought ten times, they might split them 50/50. Mikey will probably be better from now on not having to make 135 anymore and then fight smaller faster guys anyway, I bet he has a big future at 140 and 147 where HE will be the faster smaller guy now, I can't wait to see him fight guys like Spence after Mikey gave an exciting performance even in defeat vs Loma."
So win or lose vs Loma, Mikey gains huge exposure, makes a lot of money, will in all likelihood still be able to say he has never been knocked out, and will also be able to say that he is still undefeated above 135 pounds, making his fight vs Spence still much more interesting than Mikey's fight vs Loma would be if Mikey got knocked out by Spence at 147 and then had to cut 12 pounds.