Spence still wants Danny Garcia next in September or October

By Boxing News - 04/06/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. is looking to return to the ring in September or October, and he wants to face Danny Garcia for that bout. Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) will be seeing action for the first time since his terrible car crash late last year on October 10.

He says he’s been checked out by the Cleveland Clinic and is ready to resume his boxing career. But before he does, he’ll have one more final checkup before returning to fight.

The former two-division world champion Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) is a tough opponent for Spence to be taking off after a car crash, but he feels confident enough that he’ll beat him with any issues.

Spence has a three-fight list that he wants to follow. In his next three fights, he plans on facing these guys in this order:

  1. Danny Garcia
  2. Manny Pacquiao
  3. Keith Thurman

WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford could be positioned at #4 for Spence, depending on what’s out there for him to fight. Shawn Porter is also a possibility, but Spence says he wants to fight the other top guys before he faces him again.

Spence: I’ll fight Danny Garcia, Pacquiao, and Thurman

“Me and Al [Haymon] have discussions all the time, and I tell him that I want to fight. The guys that I’ve wanted to fight, I want to fight. So hopefully, I’ll fight Danny Garcia this year or next year, Pacquiao and maybe Keith Thurman. I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t care about him anymore. He didn’t give me an opportunity when I wanted it, so I don’t care about him.

“I was calling him [Thurman] out, and he didn’t want to give me the opportunity, but he didn’t want to fight me. Now I don’t need him at all. He’s not even on my radar. I feel like he’s not even on my level. Just because he fought Pacquiao, they gave him a little bit of kudos. I’m looking for big names like Pacquiao, Terence Crawford, Danny Garcia. So I’m not worried about Keith Thurman at all,” said Spence.

“That’s a fight that makes sense. Danny Garcia is a tough fighter, and that’s a guy that has accomplished a lot in the sport of boxing,” said Spence naming Garcia as the guy he wants to fight next. “That’s a fight that makes sense, and that’s a fight that can happen next,” said Spence.

Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman has worn out his welcome with Spence after he ignored him all these years he was trying to get a fight against him. Nevertheless, Thurman is still positioned at #3 on Spence’s list. The reason for that is Thurman is one of the welterweights with Premier Boxing Champions, and that makes him the better option than Crawford.

Image: Spence still wants Danny Garcia next in September or October

September or October when Spence hopes to fight

“I’ve been running and going to my coaches house to work the mitts one-one-one,” said Spence on his social media site. ” I’ve been doing a lot of running. I’m ready to get back into the swing of things and get some fights under my belt and get back in it.

“And it’s been a good time off. I’ve had my recovery time from my accident in October, and I’ve been recovering. I’m fully healthy now and ready to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been feeling great. I went to the Cleveland Clinic, and they evaluated me and checked me out, my brain, and my whole body.

“Everything has been excellent, and I’m recovering well. I’m fully recovered now, and I’m going to go back after this is all over with, and get checked put again. Hopefully, I can fight in September or October or whenever it is that this current event is over with.

“That’s what I want [to come back in September or October], and that’s what I’m hearing. Me and Al [Haymon] have been talking and aiming for. We were aiming for July or August, but this happened, and we pushed it back.

 

 

I’m looking forward to fighting in September or October,” said Spence.

Boxing may not be back by September or October, so Spence may need to wait until the second half of 2021 before he fights again. The good news is that Spence is young enough to sit on the shelf for a year and a half without it hurting his game. He’s a power puncher, and those types of fighters can handle long layoffs better than speed guys.

Errol feeling rejuvenated after accident

“That whole accident put my whole family and perspective, and everything,” said Spence. “I’m taking things a lot more seriously now as far as training, dieting, making sure I don’t blow up too heavy with my weight and stuff like that. It puts things in perspective. I got a second chance at living. Now I’m 100% and entirely focused on boxing.

“I’m rejuvenated now and ready to get back in there,” said Spence. “And I’m probably hitting harder now because I’m excited and ready to get back in the swing of things and ready to fight.

“I’m looking forward to a training camp and looking forward to being in top shape. And I’m looking good just like I was when I was 5-0 and coming up the ranks, and I didn’t have a world title yet. It feels excellent to be 100% and refocused on boxing,” said Spence.

Whether Spence is hitting harder now than he did before is unknown. It could be that he’s just motivated, and that’s causing him to punch harder while working on the mitts. Since Spence doesn’t have a fight scheduled, he can load up on his shots without worrying about injuring his hands.

It’s been six months since Spence’s accident, and he’s feeling rested right now. His last fight against Porter was seven months ago last September, and he’s ready to fight again.

Image: Spence still wants Danny Garcia next in September or October

Spence: You can’t hunt the hunter

“Mentality-wise, it hasn’t changed. You can’t hunt the hunter,” said Spence when told that the other top fighters are chasing him. “Those same guys that I’ve been calling out. If they are going to fight and want to fight, then we’re going to fight as I’ve said before.

Those guys have been calling me out, but I’m not shying away from Danny Garcia, I’m not shying away from Keith Thurman, I’m not saying away from Terence Crawford, and I’m not shying away from Shawn Porter,” said Spence.

The top guys at 147 are already hunting Spence, and there’s nothing he can do about that. Crawford is sounding emboldened and is now calling out Spence I Crawford doing this because he feels Spence might not be the same fighters unknown.

Besides Crawford, Porter and Danny Garcia have both called out Spence. It’s interesting that Thurman isn’t calling out Spence as well, but he’s coming off of hand surgery, and he’s maybe not ready to fight a tough opponent in his next fight.

Pacquiao on Spence’s target list

“Manny Pacquiao looked great against Keith Thurman,” said Spence. “I didn’t think he was going to look that good, and I didn’t know he was going to look like that. He looked great against him and looked like the Manny Pacquiao of old. Not really the Pacquiao of old, but he looked like a shade of him.

“I would love to fight Manny Pacquiao. He’s a future Hall of Famer, and he’s a guy that I would love to fight. He has a belt too, and I would love to get that belt because my goal is to the undisputed welterweight champion of the world. So I would have to fight him unless he vacates or if somebody else beats him. That’s a fight that I would love to have,” said Spence.

Spence must get the fight with Pacquiao as soon as opposition because you never know when he’s going to be walking away from the sport. If Pacquiao wants to fight Spence, which he doesn’t right now, then he’ll need to accept it. If Spence doesn’t agree to fight Pacquiao if offered, he could lose out permanently.

Pacquiao is probably going to fight Mikey Garcia next and not Spence. Mikey is easy money for Pacquiao, and that makes him an ideal option for the 41-year-old Filipino star.

Image: Spence still wants Danny Garcia next in September or October

Spence won’t fight Porter the same way

“I said before that fight that I was going to fight Shawn Porter’s fight,” said Spence. “I’m going to fight him toe-to-toe, and it’s going to be a really hard, grueling fight, and I’m going to fight just how he wants to fight. Like I told everybody, I’m not going t take a step backward. That’s what I did. It was a tough fight for me, and it was a critical fight for him.

If that fight happens again, I won’t fight him the same,” said Spence about Crawford. If that fight happens again, I’ll be open to it. That was a great fight. I think a lot of boxing fans got their money’s worth with that fight.

“It intrigues me [fighting Porter again], but at the same time, there are so many fighters out there that I haven’t beat like Danny Garcia, Pacquiao and like Terence Crawford. There are so many fighters that I haven’t beat yet.

“Shawn Porter kind of goes back to the other side. Until I beat Danny Garcia, Terence Crawford, and Pacquiao, I doubt I’d fight Shawn Porter again,” said Spence.

It would be wise for Spence to box Porter next time he fights him because it’s too taxing on his body to brawl with him. It’s hard on Porter as well, but he’s not as talented as Spence, and he can afford to be involved in grueling bouts.

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