By Allan Fox: Errol Spence Jr is looking painfully thin in training during the pandemic for his title defense against Danny ‘Swift’ Garica on November 21 on Fox Sports pay-per-view.
It doesn’t make any sense for Spence to have lost this much weight. He’s a god a lot of time before he faces 32-year-old Danny in November. It’s like celebrating a holiday three months ahead, and it’s incredibly odd.
Spence has lost a dramatic amount of both muscle and fat since his crash crash. He’s going to need to gain some of that muscle weight back before November 21 if he doesn’t want to beat up by Garcia.
Right now, Spence looks like he’s ready for the weigh-in at 147, but this isn’t a dehydrated look. This is muscle atrophy, and that’s not how Spence should be in getting ready for a puncher like Garcia.
Spence needs to put some weight on before he faces Garcia because he looks like he’s turning into a marathon runner right now instead of a boxer.
What’s going through Spence’s head?
Are Spence’s feet firmly planted on the ground ahead of his fight with Garcia? If not, then we could see him get blasted to smithereens by Garcia, who is easily the best puncher in the 147-lb division today.
With that fight still three months away, IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) has trimmed down considerably, and it’s unclear why he’s decided to lose so much weight this early.
Usually, Spence’s weight is in the 170s+ lb area this far ahead of one of his fights, and it’s difficult to imagine what his rationale in losing so much weight three months ahead of his clash with Danny.
Spence, 30, is acting like his contest with Garcia (36-2 21 KOs) is tonight instead of on November 21. Did Spence’s car crash on October 10 last year affect his thinking process or what?
The way that Spence has been acting bizarrely in the last couple of months has boxing fans wondering if something was knocked loose from his brain from his crash of his Ferrari Spyder in Dallas, Texas, last October.
Danny Garcia has been overlooked
“Another great fight,” Ellerbe to Fighthype on the Spence vs. Garcia fight on November 21. “Danny Garcia can fight his a** off.
“He’s one of those guys that has been overshadowed and overlooked, but he just comes and does his thing every time he steps up in there,” Leonard said in pouring praise over the head of Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia.
The only reason Danny Garcia has been overlooked in the last three years since 2017 is because of his defeats at the hands of Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter.
When Garcia was fighting at 140 and winning all of his fights, he wasn’t being overlooked.
“And he’s lost a couple of close fights, but he’s always in a fight, and he’s very dangerous. He’s a very, very good fighter. Danny Garcia is a tremendous fighter,” Ellerbe when asked if he remembered Danny’s 12 round unanimous decision win over Lucas Matthysse in September 2013.
“I have a great deal of respect for him, and that’s a tremendous matchup. We all know what Errol brings to the table. It’s going to be a great fight, and I think he [Danny Garcia] relishes that role being the underdog role.
Spence eager to face Danny
“Again, both guys will be prepared, and Errol will be chomping at the bit to show the entire world to show that he hasn’t missed a beat, and I can’t wait,” said Ellerbe.
It’s only been since 2017 that Danny has been viewed as a B-level, secondary type of champion, and not in the same league as the talented fighters like Spence, Porter, Thurman, Terence Crawford, and Manny Pacquiao.
If Garcia can beat Spence on November 21, he’ll be placed near the top of the 147lb division. The only reason Danny won’t be viewed as #1 is that boxing fans will only give him partial credit if he beats Spence due to his recent car crash.
“Errol can do everything. He doesn’t just walk down fighters. He does everything. He’s a tremendous body-puncher, and he’s an underrated boxer,” said Ellerbe.
It doesn’t matter how eager Spence is about fighting Danny Garcia. If Errol is as thin for that fight as he is now, it’s going to be a massacre like Danny’s 4th round knockout victory over Amir Khan in July 2012.
If anything, Spence needs to calm down his enthusiasm for the Garcia fight, and treat as just another fight. It would also be a good idea for Spence to focus on boxing Danny the way he did in his one-sided 12 round decision win over Mikey Garcia in March 2019.
Spence a complete fighter
“He puts the pressure on you, and he’s a very good complete. I think he’s one of the few complete fighters in the sport.
“Yes, and it’s a fight that he wants,” said Ellerbe when asked if Spence is a good style matchup for Danny Garcia. “Him and his pops [Angel Garcia], I’m sure they have a great game plan, and it’s going to be a really entertaining fight.
“It’s going to be a great fight,” said Ellerbe when asked ‘who has the better punching power’ between Spence and Garcia. “I know both guys really well.
“I saw Errol a long time before that [his sparring session with Floyd Mayweather Jr]. And I saw him coming up through the amateurs. He’s a very talented young fighter,” said Ellerbe about Errol.
Spence can be a complete fighter when he’s fighting smart, but the problem is, he doesn’t always use his ring IQ to win.
As we saw in Errol’s recent narrow 12 round split decision victory over Shawn Porter last September, he sometimes fights down to the level of his competition.
We saw the same thing with Spence’s victory over little 5’6″ Mikey Garia last year in Arlington, Texas. Rather than use his size to stomp Mikey, Spence decided to box him for 12 rounds, which resulted in him winning a dull 12 round decision.
Afterward, the boxing public gave Spence no credit for fighting a safe-first style fight against a small, fat guy that had come up two weight classes to fight him at 147.