By Lem Satterfield
Left-handed IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence is after his fourth defense and 12th straight stoppage victory against Mikey Garcia, who will be making his 147-pound debut in pursuit of a fifth crown in as many divisions on March 16 at The Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Fox Pay Per View.
The 28-year-old Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) has advantages in height (5-foot-9 ½-to-5-foot-6) and reach (72-inches-to 68) as well as perceived edges in speed and power, but “The Truth’s” trainer, Derrick James, stops short of saying his fighter will definitely stop Garcia.
“It’s going to be hell for this guy against Errol, but Mikey’s a great fighter,” said James of Spence, whose KO streak includes dethroning England’s Kell Brook for the IBF crown in May 2017.
“Kell Brook was phenomenal, but Mikey Garcia is a different level of fighter. I can’t visualize how the fight will go, but at the same time, I can’t visualize anybody going 12 rounds with Errol.”
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.”
