By Keith Idec

LOS ANGELES – Mikey Garcia figures Errol Spence Jr. considers him too small to be a legitimate threat.

That was Garcia’s explanation when asked during a post-fight press conference Saturday night why Spence said he was “licking [his] chops” in anticipation of a fight against Garcia. If that’s how Spence truly feels, Garcia isn’t offended.

The undefeated four-division champion just wants Spence to agree to fight him.

“He might feel that it’s an easy fight for him, that I’m too small,” Garcia said. “You know, well, that’s fine. Let’s get in the ring and let’s get to work.”

If that happens, Garcia envisions Spence leaving the ring the night of their fight much more impressed by his skills than when Spence enters it. That’s true of previously unbeaten Robert Easter Jr. (21-1, 14 KOs), who survived a third-round knockdown and lost a unanimous decision to Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) in their 12-round lightweight title unification fight Saturday night at Staples Center.

“He’s a terrific fighter,” Garcia said of Spence. “He’s an experienced fighter and, you know, he’s very strong. You know, he’s a dangerous man, so I don’t know if I can surprise him. I think he’s got the experience. He knows the kind of fighter I am, but I think what will surprise him is how well I can do other things.

“If you’re standing on the outside, you know, everybody can just see a simple guy, just a straight 1-2. Nothing special about that. Ask any of my opponents what they feel after the fight. Is it easy? Is it like what they expected? I think they’ll all tell you it wasn’t what they expected.”

Spence gave Garcia credit for defeating Easter on Saturday night. The powerful southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, didn’t see anything, though, that leads him to believe Garcia can upset him in a welterweight title fight that’ll require the IBF/WBC lightweight champion to move up two weight classes – from 135 pounds to 147.

“He was just technically sound, like he always is,” Spence said. “He was using his jab, his one-two, just fundamentally sound. I mean, I didn’t really see anything that just stuck out to me that he did great. He threw the same one-two or hook/straight right, or he threw the jab with the uppercut. So, I mean, I pretty much seen the same thing from the Adrien Broner fight and the rest of the fights.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.