By Lem Satterfield
The trainer of left-handed IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence calls four-division titlist Mikey Garcia “probably the best” fighter “The Truth” will face in chasing his fourth defense and 12th straight stoppage victory on March 16 at The Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Fox Pay Per View.
Making his 147-pound debut in pursuit of a fifth crown in as many divisions, the 31-year-old Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) “is better” in some areas than former champions Chris Algieri, Lamont Peterson and Kell Brook, whom the 28-year-old Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) stopped in the fifth, seventh and 11th rounds.
Garcia last month began working with strength and conditioning guru Victor Conte at his Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning (SNAC) facilities in San Carlos, California, an organization that supplies legal sports nutrition products and supplements.
As part of Conte’s program, Garcia's routines included running hills, sprints and bungee cord work, as well as various forms of plyometrics and mitt and core exercises in low and high altitude simulation domes.
“I know Mikey’s a smart, intelligent fighter and it’s obvious he knows there’s a huge task ahead of him, so he’s doing everything he can to be successful. I think everything he’s doing will help him and I applaud him for all of his efforts. Lamont Peterson, Kell Brook and Chris Algieri were all great champions,” said Derrick James, Spence’s career-long corner man.
“But Mikey’s more technical than all of those guys, and that’s the difference. Mikey 100 percent believes in himself nad he’s operating with a great resume. He’s a very cerebral fighter who poses a threat like all of the other guys. Obviously, they feel like they see something, and we’re going to come in as the best Errol Spence possible, we’re going to go out and showcase who we are and why people say the things that they say about us.”
WBA “regular” middleweight champion Rob Brant (24-1, 16 KOs) once served as a sparring partner for Spence, whose punching power he described as “barely human,” and, “overkill,” as well as “on a different level” in comparison to 160-pound rival Ryota Murata, whom “Bravo” dethroned in a non-stop, Fight Of The Year caliber toe-to-toe brawl in October.
Hall of Fame boxer Sugar Ray Leonard has called “The Truth” a rare, special fighter and a man who could be successful in any era.”
“We want to demonstrate that we’re what Sugar Ray Leonard says about us,” said James, “which is that Errol is one of the few fighters he knows who can perform in any era. There is a reason why he says that.”
The 31-year-old Garcia faces disadvantages in height (5-foot-9 ½-to-5-foot-6) and reach (72-inches-to-68) against the 28-year-old Spence, requiring James to make some unique adjustments in preparation.
“We’re using guys who have great timing and guys who have size, because the smaller guys can’t deal with the power all of the time,” said James. “So we have to try to match Garcia’s technique and skill to the point where every time they think there’s an opening do a door, we want to close all of the doors, make sure that they’re shut and put a lock on it.”
Rare is the sparring partner who can take the sustained punishment Spence dishes out.
“If Errol’s hurting somebody, I’ll tell him to go back to jabbing more,” said James. “It just depends on that day, how he feels and whatever he wants to do.”
James recalls the day Brant said he “had the back of my hand bruised from blocking a shot from Errol Spence in 16 ounce gloves.”
“I remember that session where Errol hurt Rob’s hand. It was an overhand left from Errol, and Rob blocked it. The next day, Rob and I were working and I was like, “What’s that on your hand?’ Rob said, ‘It’s a bruise.’ I’m like, ‘What the heck?’” said James, during an earlier interview with BoxingScen.com.
“Now Rob blocked the punch, but the power went through Errol’s thick hand wraps and Errol’s glove, and then through Rob’s glove and his wraps, and we’re talking about 16 ounce gloves and a punch that caused a bruise on his hand. So that’s how hard the punch was, and that’s a great indication of how Errol applies that 147 pounds of pressure through his entire body into his fists that hurt his opponents.”
Spence has knocked out fighters who have gone the distance with division counterparts.
"[Mikey Garcia’s] daring to be great. He wants to move up and try to dethrone me and it’s not going to happen. It’s definitely not going to be an easy fight. He will be pound-for-pound No. 1 if he beats me, but it’s not going to happen,” said Spence, during an earlier report on BoxingScene.com.
“I’m a 147-pounder, he’s a 135-pounder, and there are weight classes for a reason. [Mikey Garcia] will be a challenging fight because he has great skills, but I see myself winning. I don’t really see anything that concerns me. He’s technically good, I’m technically sound, too. I have speed and power, but I don’t see him hurting me at 147. I just see me winning the fight, period.”
While going 4-0 (all KOs) in 2015, Spence stopped Samuel Vargas, Phil Lo Greco, Chris van Heerden and Alejandro Berrera all for the first time in their careers. Their combined records were 97-5-1, with Lo Greco having lost a 10-rounder to former champion Shawn Porter in 2013.
In 2016, Spence scored three knockdowns during a fifth-round TKO of former 140-pound champion Chris Algieri in April and a pair of final-round knockdowns during a sixth-round KO of Leonard Bundu in August.
Algieri had been dropped six times during a unanimous decision loss to former champions Manny Pacquiao (2014) and also lost a unanimous decision to Amir Khan (2015). Bundu lost by unanimous decision in a title bout to current WBA “super” champion Keith Thurman (2014), rising from a first-round knockdown.
“People don’t Chris Algieri as much credit as he deserves,” said James. “He beat Ruslan Provodnikov [for a 140-pound title] and Manny Pacquiao couldn’t knock him out.”
Spence traveled to Sheffield, England, for Brook, scoring 10th-and final-round knockdowns and breaking “The Special One’s” orbital bone in his severely swollen left eye. In Brook, Spence defeated the man who dethroned Porter.
Spence’s two defenses are a one knockdown, seventh-round stoppage of two-division champion Lamont Peterson in January, and a first-round KO of previously unbeaten Carlos Ocampo in June. Peterson had won two straight to rebound from a 143-pound majority decision loss to two-division champion Danny Garcia in 2015.
“Mikey is a very technical, rough, very tough and very technical fighter, so I can’t imagine people hurting him and knocking him out,” said James. “But I also can’t imagine either somebody taking Errol’s punches like that for that many rounds, so it’s a two-fold answer.”