Errol Spence Jr. to fight Danny Garcia in comeback fight

By Boxing News - 05/18/2020 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr. will be facing Danny Garcia in his comeback fight at a still to be determined date. @MikeCoppinger states that IBF/WBA welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) will be defending against Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) in his first fight back from his car crash from last October.

Spence and Garcia will likely meet up from September. A happy-looking Garcia revealed last weekend that his next fight will be taking place in September against Spence or Manny Pacquiao.

Spence and Garcia need to lose weight

Right now, Spence and Garcia are both looking well-fed. These guys are going to need to back off from the eating and get serious with their diet and training if they want to make the 147-pound weight limit.

The pandemic could cause the Spence-Garcia fight to be pushed to later this year, but that might help Spence. It’ll depend on when live boxing events are permitted, and that’s something that will come down to the individual states.

The two were supposed to fight on Fox Sports pay-per-view four months ago on January 25, but Spence’s car crash foiled those plans. That would have been nice if that fight had taken place before the lockdown from the pandemic.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been any great welterweight fights in 2020, and we can only hope that the Spence vs. Garcia fight takes place before the end of the year. This isn’t a big enough fight to take it to Saudi Arabia to stage it in front of a live audience.

Image: Errol Spence Jr. to fight Danny Garcia in comeback fight

Danny Garcia = dangerous tune-up

Spence, 30, could be making a huge mistake in using the hard-hitting Garcia as his tune-up opponent to get him ready for some of the stricter tests at 147. Although Danny isn’t in the same league as guys like Shawn Porter and Terence Crawford, he’s a bigger puncher than them.

If Spence has any lingering physical problems from his car crash, Danny could be the one to expose them with his power. After the type of car crash that Spence was in, it’s not an excellent idea for him to be fighting someone with the kind of power that Danny packs with both hands.

Danny’s left hook is one of the best in the sport, and he’s capable of knocking out anyone if he lands that shot.

Spence just recently got his new upper deck front teeth put in, and it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to start training seriously. It’s going to take some time for Spence to get accustomed to the new teeth, and he might not be prepared for a while. As such, any announcement on Spence’s next fight won’t mean much until Spence has started sparring.

Garcia has problems in the last three years since moving up to 147, losing to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. Those are the only two good fighters that Danny has fought since moving up to 147, and he was found out by both guys. The other guys that Danny has fought have

The former two-division world champion Danny Garcia was said to be on Manny Pacquiao’s shortlist for his next fight. If Spence is now the one that will be fighting the 32-year-old Danny next, then that’s a good indication that little Mikey Garcia will face Pacquiao.

Spence sending a message to Crawford 

By fighting Danny Garcia next, Spence is sending a strong message to WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford that he’s still the same fighter he was before his car crash. Garcia is an arguably better fighter than anyone that Crawford has ever fought before, and it’s admirable that Spence is facing him after his car crash.

Spence looked vulnerable in his last fight against WBC welterweight champion Shawn Porter last August. Errol beat Porter by a 12 round majority decision, but it was a grueling affair and easily the toughest of his eight-year professional career by far.

Spence says he intentionally chose to brawl Porter to send a message. He wanted to beat Porter at his own game, and he did that – just barely. If Spence chooses to brawl with Danny and fight to his strengths, he could get knocked out. At the very least, Spence will take a lot of punishment in the process of beating Garcia.

It will be impressive if Spence knocks out Garcia, as no one has ever come close to doing that. Lucas Matthysse buzzed in 2013, but he couldn’t get him out of there.

Spence will need to be ready for a potentially physical fight from Danny. In the Matthysse fight, Garcia was hitting him with low blows the entire battle. It was a low blow clinic that Garcia put on in that fight, and it seemed to help him.

Image: Errol Spence Jr. to fight Danny Garcia in comeback fight

Spence is a big step up for Danny

Hopefully, Garcia doesn’t resort to hitting Spence with shots below the belt the entire fight, but you never know. When a fighter is getting beaten, they can sometimes pull out all the stopped to get the win.

Danny is starting to show his age a little bit, as he looked terrible in his last fight against fringe contender Ivan Redkach last January in winning a lackluster 12 round decision.

A lot of boxing fans wondered why Garcia couldn’t score a knockout of Redkach, but what they forget is Danny isn’t a true welterweight. He’s got a small frame, and he should still be fighting at 140.

Since moving up welterweight in 2014, Danny has mostly fought weak opposition in a pattern of tune-ups. When he did step it up to the big leagues against Porter and Thurman, he lost both fights.

Garcia’s wins at welterweight have come against these fighters:

  • Rod Salka
  • Ivan Redkach
  • Brandon Rios
  • Lamont Peterson
  • Robert Guerrero
  • Paulie Malignaggi

YouTube video