By Keith Idec
LOS ANGELES – Mikey Garcia-Errol Spence Jr. “definitely” is a pay-per-view fight, according to promoter Richard Schaefer.
Schaefer, who promoted the Garcia-Robert Easter Jr. card Saturday night at Staples Center, stated during the post-fight press conference that Garcia-Spence would be a Showtime pay-per-view event if that fight is made for November or December. Spence and Garcia suggested that time frame after Garcia beat Easter by unanimous decision in their lightweight title unification fight.
Neither Garcia nor Spence have headlined a pay-per-view card, but Schaefer considers their possible bout one of the biggest fights in boxing. Garcia and Spence are two of the best boxers in the sport, but Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs), the IBF/WBC lightweight champ, would have to move up two divisions to challenge Spence (23-0, 20 KOs) for his IBF welterweight title.
Schaefer also said Garcia-Spence should take place in Las Vegas, but he doesn't rule out the possibility of Los Angeles or Texas.
“Well, definitely it’s a pay-per-view fight,” Schaefer said. “It’s one of the biggest fights you can make. It’s like a dream matchup, like almost too good to be true. So, you know, definitely pay-per-view. And I do like to, I think for pay-per-view, Las Vegas is the perfect place.
"Las Vegas would be a great place to stage that fight. I could also see that fight going to Los Angeles or even Dallas, Texas. Spence had a very good turnout for his last fight in Texas. Those would be the three frontrunners to host that fight.
"But I do believe with this huge turnout Mikey had tonight here – as I mentioned, it was slightly bigger than what we had for [Abner] Mares and [Leo] Santa Cruz [on June 9]. But for Mikey to come back here, after seven years, I mentioned it before, Los Angeles, Staples Center, has its fourth franchise here after the Lakers, the Clippers and the Kings. They have the Garcias now, Mikey Garcia, and I think this building here is gonna see much more of Mikey Garcia."
The Garcia-Easter card drew an announced crowd of 12,560 to Staples Center. Before Saturday night, the emerging Garcia hadn’t fought in Los Angeles since the Oxnard native knocked out Rafael Guzman in the fourth round of their June 2011 bout at Staples Center.
The 30-year-old Garcia’s past three fights have taken place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Adrien Broner), Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio (Sergey Lipinets) and Staples Center. He, too, thinks his fight against Spence should be held in Las Vegas.
“I think we already started talking about that, and I think that fight belongs in Vegas,” Garcia said. “A big fight like that, I think belongs in Vegas. It’s just, you know, it’s a huge attraction, big fight, you know, and I don’t think there’s any other better venue for it.”
Schaefer declined to predict how many pay-per-view buys a Garcia-Spence showdown would produce.
“I love to do pay-per-views and I’m usually pretty accurate with my estimations,” Schaefer said. “So I think this is gonna be a big, big, big pay-per-view. And I’m not gonna tell you how many yet, but you know, I always promote pay-per-views. I wanna break records and so, you know, we’re gonna do a big number with that.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
