By Dan Ambrose: Mikey Garcia is putting on a lot of size in a hurry in bulking up to prepare for his title challenge against IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on March 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In a photo posted of Mikey on Saturday by his trainer Robert Garcia, he looks like he’s packed on a lot of muscle in a short period of time.
Mikey, 31, looks like he’s been hitting the weights hard, and bulking up like Saul Canelo Alvarez did in his fight with Gennady Golovkin last year.
Mikey is going to need a lot more than just a bulked up physique for him to beat Spence in their fight on Premier Boxing Champions on FOX Sports pay-per-view at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Spence’s punching power is going to be a problem for Mikey. In winning world titles at 126, 130, 135 and 140, Garcia hasn’t dealt with the kind of puncher than he’s going to be facing in Spence on March 16. That’s the real problem. Bulking up will only help Mikey to a degree, but he’s still going to need to be able to handle Spence’s punching power.
March 16th 💪 #RGBA @mikeygarcia @GarciaBoxing @SNACsystem @VictorConte pic.twitter.com/eFT5PJnTtX
— Robert Garcia Jr (@_garciapita) December 29, 2018
There’s roughly 11 weeks to go before the Spence-Garcia fight on March 16, and Mikey is already looking like he’s got his weight close to where it needs to be for him to take the fight. The added muscle weight that Mikey has put on may not help him inside the ring with Spence unless he’s going to have added punching power to go along with it. Spence is a huge welterweight, who will likely be close to 170 pounds on the night of the fight. Mikey is going to need to deal with being punched a lot harder than he ever has in his 13-year pro career.
Some fighters are able to do well after they bulk up and move up a weight class or two. We’re going to find out whether Garcia is one of them. Mikey’s brother Robert Garcia says he would have liked to have seen him fight someone at welterweight before his fight with Spence, since he’s taking this match without any practical experience in the weight class. Going up to 147 to fight arguably the best fighter in the welterweight division seems like a foolhardy thing for Mikey to be doing. If Garcia wants to win the fight, he’s going about it in an odd way. Fighters normally want to prepare themselves to fight the best by moving up in weight and facing opposition that will get them ready to take on a tough challenge. Mikey isn’t going that. He’s going to be jumping straight into the welterweight division against Spence.