By Lem Satterfield
Four-division champion Mikey Garcia will be “difficult” en route to “winning a decision” in his 147-pound debut against IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., whom he’ll face in a clash of unbeatens on March 16 at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Fox Pay Per View.
“It is definitely a very difficult fight,” said trainer Robert Garcia, whose brother fights Spence near the latter’s hometown of DeSoto, Texas. “Spence is very strong and very quick with tremendous skills, but Mikey is also very skilled, very strong and very fast, too.”
The 31-year-old Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) faces disadvantages in height (5-foot-9 ½-to-5-foot-6) and reach (72-inches-to-68) against the 28-year-old Spence (24-0, 21 KOs), southpaw who is pursuing his third defense and 12th straight knockout victory.
Garcia dominated the last left-hander he faced in 5-foot-4 Dejan Zlaticanin, who entered their bout at 22-0 with 15 KOs, as well as a taller, rangier, nearly 6-foot Robert Easter, an orthodox fighter who was armed with a 76-inch reach and a record of 21-0 with 14 KOs.
Garcia dethroned Zlaticanin as WBC 135-pound champion in January 2017 by third-round knockout to become a three-division title winner, ending with a right uppercut that sent Zlaticanin reeling before grazing him with a left hook and finishing with a crushing right cross that left the ex-champ lying motionless on his back beneath the ropes.
In March, Garcia won a fourth crown in as many divisions with a unanimous decision that dethroned previously unbeaten IBF 140-pound champion Sergey Lipinets, then returned to 135 in July against Easter, whom he dropped in the third round of a unanimous decision that unified Easter’s WBC crown to his IBF version.
“Only fighters who have been in the ring against Mikey can tell you how difficult Mikey is inside of the ring, and that’s one thing Errol Spence will find out,” said Robert Garcia.
“I think it’s going to be a fight full of action that the fans are going to love and enjoy with Mikey winning a decision, and, of course, there will be a rematch. That is my prediction.”
In March, Garcia won a fourth crown in as many divisions with a unanimous decision that dethroned previously unbeaten IBF 140-pound champion Sergey Lipinets, then returned to 135 in July against Easter, whom he dropped in the third round of a unanimous decision that unified Easter’s WBC crown to his IBF version.
Spence’s KO streak includes dethroning England’s by 11th-round knockout of Kell Brook for the IBF crown in May 2017. 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.
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 from a body shot in June.
“It’s going to be hell for this guy against Errol, but Mikey’s a great fighter. Kell Brook was phenomenal, but Mikey Garcia is a different level of fighter. I can’t visualize how the fight will go,” said Spence’s trainer, Derrick James, during an interview with BoxingScene.com.
“But at the same time, I can’t visualize anybody going 12 rounds with Errol. Mikey is a very technical, rough, very tough fighter, so I can’t imagine people hurting him or knocking him out. 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.”
