By Allan Fox: IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (24-0, 21 KOs) weighed in at 146 1/4 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for his title fight against Mikey Garcia )39-0, 30 KOs) this Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions on FOX Sports PPV at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Mikey weighed in at 145.5 lbs. Both guys looked in good shape. During the face off, Mikey smiled at Spence to show him that he’s unafraid of him. Spence just stared straight ahead, not showing any emotion.
“The fans can’t fight for him. I’m going to show I’m the best fighter in the world,” Spence said. “I’m going to do what I do to all of my opponents. I’m going to break him down, and knock him out.”
One could sense that Spence was very keyed up from the stare down with Mikey after it was over. When Spence was being interviewed, he sounded a little annoyed by how Mikey was grinning at him during the face off. What might have also gotten Spence irritated was how the crowd was on Mikey’s side despite this being Spence’s home state.
“The weight was easy, and I’m ready,” Mikey Garcia said. “It’s amazing to be here with this kind of reception in his hometown.”
Nutrition guru Victor Conte reportedly expects Garcia to rehydrate approximately nine pounds from his current weight of 146 pounds to 155 lbs this Saturday night for his title shot against IBF welterweight champion Spence Jr. on PBC on Fox Sports PPV at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, according to Mike Coppinger. Garcia, 31, weighed 152 lbs last night before going to bed. As of this morning, Garcia was all the way down to 146, and ready for the weigh-in.
If the 155 lbs for Mikey turns out to be the reality, then that means there would be only five pounds that separates him and Spence on Saturday might. Spence, 29, is predicting that he’ll weigh no more than 160 lbs when he steps foot inside the ring. Given how much taller Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) is than Mikey, we could see an interesting outcome for this fight. It was previously believed that Spence would have a huge weight advantage over Mikey on fight night, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to be the case. Mikey has put on a lot of weight, while Spence has to lose weight.
“Victor Conte tells me Mikey Garcia weighed 152 pounds when he went to sleep last night. He woke up at 150.4. He took a hot bath to help cut weight and is now around 146. Conte expects Mikey will rehydrate to 155 on fight night,” Mike Coppinger said on his Twitter.
The crowd for Saturday’s fight could break the record of 51,240 for a boxing event set by Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Liam Smith in 2016. Co-promoter Richard Schaefer of Ringsports is predicting the fight could hit 1 million pay-per-view buys on Fox Sports PPV, and also break the all-time record for attendance set by Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks in 1978. Mikey Garcia has to be seen as the on that’s driving the interest in the fight. Spence hasn’t been a big draw like this since turning pro, but thanks to him facing Mikey, he’s about to be involved in a big event that will potentially smash attendance records and bring in over 1 million buys on PPV.
Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) is seeking his fifth division world title in facing the unbeaten IBF welterweight champion Spence on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Mikey told his family that he wanted the Spence fight after watching him defeat Lamont Peterson last year in January. Mikey’s brother/trainer Robert Garcia was in disbelief at him being interested in facing Spence, but he says he saw a flat in Errol’s game that he thinks he can exploit to defeat him. After Mikey’s win over IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. last July, he shocked the boxing world when he told Jim Gray of Showtime that he wanted to fight Spence in his next fight. Spence didn’t believe it at the time, but he was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be true.
Although Mikey, 31, has fought twice in the 140 lb division previously against Sergey Lipinets and Adrien Broner, his move up to 147 to fight Spence is a big move up in weight, because it’s not only seven pounds, but it’s also a fight against one of the best, if not the best, welterweights in the division that he’ll be facing on Saturday night. Mikey started his career out at 126, and he’s captured world titles in that weight class, 130, 135 and 140. Mikey is counting on being able to take advantage of Spence’s holes in his gave to win a world title in 5th weight class at 147. If victorious, Garcia hasn’t said anything about whether he would be interested in moving up to 154 to go after a sixth division world title against the likes of WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia, IBF/WBA champion Jarrett Hurd or WBC champion Tony Harrison. There would be a huge amount of interest from fans in seeing Mikey face the unbeaten Munguia for his World Boxing Organization 154 lb title.
Spence is one of the biggest punchers in the welterweight division, and a guy rated on the pound-for-pound list as one of the elite fighters in boxing. While Spence isn’t noted as a one-punch guy, he still hits very hard, and is dangerous with the way that he wears his opponents down with his clubbing shots to the body and head. Spence is like a George Foreman type of welterweight with the way that he bludgeons his opponents into submission over a period of rounds rather than smashing them with one big shot. Spence, 5’9 1/2″, doesn’t have lightning fast hand speed like Floyd Mayweather Jr. possessed during his prime of his career. Spence wins his fights by applying constant pressure the same way former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin has done during his career. Spence’s pressure fighting makes him lethal to deal with because he just keeps coming, and doesn’t let him for an instant. It’s hard for Spence’s faster opponents to get away from him, because he just keeps coming and not letting up with his shots. Spence’s excellent jab and punch placement makes him a dangerous fighter. Spence focuses a lot on throwing body shots, and that’s kind of a rarity in this day and age for the 147 lb weight class, where most of the fighters are head hunters. It’s hard for the average fighter to get prepared to handle a body puncher like Spence when they’ve spent most of their careers fighting head hunters. That’s something that Mikey is going to need to adjust to on Saturday night, because he’s been fighting head hunters as well, and not had to deal with getting hit to the body the way he likely will by Spence on Saturday. Even if Mikey had been fighting guys that work the body, he’s not fought a huge guy like Spence, so it’s going to be a lot harder for him to deal with the body shots from ‘The Truth’ due to his lack of experience against those types of fighters. To be sure, Spence isn’t that fast, but neither is Garcia. This isn’t a fight that is going to be won or lost based on speed. It’s going to be won with boxing skills, and/or possibly size and punching power. Mikey is going to need to raise his game to a level that he’s shown in his recent fights against Sergey Lipinets, Adrien Broner and Robert Easter Jr. Those are good fighters, but none of them possess the size, power or the boxing ability that Spence has going for him.
Mikey has seemed very confident during the news conferences with Spence. The way that Mikey carries himself, it’s if he knows something that the boxing world doesn’t know going into his fight with Spence.
