Danny Garcia the WBC mandatory to Errol Spence

By Boxing News - 03/28/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has revealed that Danny Garcia is now the mandatory to WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.

This was already academic that Garcia, 31, was the mandatory for Spence after he beat Ivan Redkach (23-5-1, 18 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in their WBC 147-lb title eliminator on January 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Garcia was supposed to have fought Spence in January on Fox Sports pay-per-view, but his car crash foiled those plans

Garcia will need to wait on Spence fight

There’s no way of knowing how long it’ll take before Garcia gets his title shot against WBC champion Spence. If the action is allowed to resume by the State Commissions in the U.S this year, then we could potentially see Garcia challenge Spence. Errol said this month that he wants to fight in July.

Right now, that’s a little presumptuous on Spence’s part to assume that boxing will resume by that point. July is only four months away, and coronavirus is still tearing through the world population, causing sickness and misery for many.

Garcia can’t afford to have his career sidelined for a prolonged period of time. At 31, he wants to win more world titles, and he feels got the power and the style to unseat IBF/WBC 147-lb Spence.

The fans don’t know whether Spence will be the same fighter he once was after his car crash. If he’s not the same fighter he was, Garcia will expose that with his powerful left hook. It would be prudent for Spence to take a tune-up before facing Garcia because he’s not the type of guy you want to face coming off of a terrible car crash.

Garcia earned WBC mandatory beating Redkach

For the casual boxing fans that weren’t aware of what was on the line for the Garcia-Redkach fight, they now know it was an official WBC welterweight title eliminator to decide the mandatory to champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs).

There wasn’t much to the fight other than Redkach biting Garcia and then losing by the scores 117-111, 118-110 and 117-111.

Spence, 30, had to work hard to win the WBC from champion Shawn Porter in beating him by a 12 round split decision on September 28 last year at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

One judge, Larry Hazzard, had Porter winning by the score 115-112. That score was way off from how the other two judges and Boxing News 24 scored it. They had it 116-111, 116-111 and 116-111. The only reason Porter was able to fight close was due to Spence electing to fight his inside game by slugging at close range.

What Spence proved is he’s a better inside fighter than Porter, as he knocked him down and worked him over with body shots. Porter had had trunks pulled up in what seemingly looked like an attempt to limit the target area for Spence to land body shots.

Image: Danny Garcia the WBC mandatory to Errol Spence

Kudratillo Abdukakhorov battles Sergey Lipinets in IBF eliminator

It’s still up in the air who Spence’s IBF mandatory is. #1 IBF Kudratillo Abdukakhorov will be facing #3 IBF Sergey Lipinets in an IBF title eliminator at some point once boxing resumes after the coronavirus goes away or the promoters start staging fights behind closed doors. They’re currently scheduled to fight on May 16, but that’s not looking good right now. That fight could wind up getting postponed like many others.

You hate to think it but that’s what it could come down to if the virus stays around for a prolonged period of time for more than a year.  The IBF interim strap will be on the line for the Abdukakhorov vs. Lipinets fight.

Lipinets (16-1, 12 KOs) is a former IBF light welterweight champion, who held the title from 2016 to 2016 He lost the belt in 12 round decision to Mikey Garcia in March 2018 in a fight that was a lot closer than the scores handed down by the three judges.

Like in almost all of Mikey’s fights, he was outworked by Lipinets, and his face was bloody and swollen afterward. The judges seemed to be more focused on scoring the rounds based on Mikey’s clean landing shots, and they kind of tuned out the constant punches that Lipinets was landing.

Since his loss to Mikey, Lipinets has won his last three fights beating little known Jayar Inson, Lamont Peterson Erick Bone. Most boxing fans would agree that the Russian Lipinets looks a lot stronger since moving up to 147, and he’s a real handful in this weight class.

It would be interesting to see what the outcome would be in a rematch between Lipinets and Mikey at 147. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Lipinets bust Mikey up and stop him.

Lipinets’ power vs. Abdukakhorov’s skills

Abdukakhorov (17-0, 9 KOs) is a good fighter with excellent skills. He’s not a big puncher, but he knows how to box, and he could be a problem for Lipinets if he can handle his power. Abdukakhorov recently beat former welterweight champion Luis Collazo by a 10 round technical decision last October in Philadelphia. In Abdukakhorov’s fight before that, he defeated contender Keita Obara by a 12 round unanimous decision.

Lipinets vs. Abdukakhorov is a tough fight to predict because both guys are evenly matched. One thing that Lipinets has going for is his experience against quality opposition. He’s been in with Mikey Garcia and Lamont Peterson. That sets him apart from the opposition that Abdukakhorov has faced as a pro.

Still, Lipinets is going to need to find a way to deal with the skills of Abdukakhorov for him to win this fight because he could end up getting outboxed.

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