Errol Spence Jr. looks as good as ever in dominating win over Danny Garcia
Anyone who doubted Errol Spence Jr.’s greatness before should rethink that position after Spence’s dominant unanimous decision victory over a very talented Danny Garcia on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Fighting 14 months after a horrific high-speed accident that nearly killed him, Spence returned to the ring on Saturday to defend his WBC and IBF welterweight belts and looked as good as ever, if not better.
Spence was in command from beginning to end, and won by scores of 116-112 twice and 117-111. Yahoo Sports had it 117-111 for Spence.
He jabbed frequently to keep Garcia at bay and badly swell up his left eye. He slowed Garcia with crushing shots to the ribcage and he pushed a pace so hard that he never allowed Garcia to get into the fight.
Garcia entered the bout with a 36-2 record, and had an argument to suggest that with a break in fights against Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman, he could have been 38-0. But there was no doubt this time about the outcome, and Garcia admitted as much.
“He was just the better man tonight, no excuses,” Garcia said. “He had a good right jab and that was the key to the fight.”
Spence was driving under the influence at a high rate of speed on Oct. 10, 2019, just weeks after a stirring victory over Porter. His Ferrari tumbled end over end and he spent two weeks in the hospital after the crash.
There was legitimate reason to believe that he’d never be the same, but he insisted throughout his training camp he wouldn’t miss a step. On Saturday, he proved his point.
From the opening bell, he pressured Garcia and took command.
“This moment’s surreal,” Spence said. “It’s been a dream of mine to come back since my accident. I had a year-and-a-half layoff, but I think I looked pretty good. I had a little ring rust in there. I got a little tired but I think I shook off the cobwebs.”
After the fourth round, Garcia’s father, trainer Angel Garcia, was imploring him to move forward and not back out when Spence was punching.
“You’re way too good of a fighter for that,” Angel Garcia told his son as he begged him to pick it up.
That Garcia didn’t do it is testament to the immense skills of Spence, who is now 27-0 and clearly one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
The next fight should be a unification fight with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford, who is also undefeated and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, but that’s unlikely to happen.
So it’s more likely that Spence will either do a rematch with Porter or face WBA champion Manny Pacquiao, who hasn’t fought since defeating Keith Thurman 16 months ago.
Pacquiao congratulated Spence on his victory on Twitter, but Spence declined to name either Crawford or Pacquiao as the man he wanted next. It’s a huge missed opportunity because he’s trying to win the negotiating game.
Boxing needs a Spence-Crawford fight, though, and it would have been another win for Spence were he to have said it in direct terms. Crawford also declined to call out Spence after his win last month over Kell Brook, so they continue to play this bizarre dance in which each wants to fight the other but they refuse to call each other out.
It will be more waiting for boxing fans as two of the best in the world circle each other but let ego get in the way of proving themselves.
Both Spence and Crawford did their parts in the ring, and Pacquiao is always there as an alternative for either.
Spence didn’t shine in the post-fight, but under the lights when it all mattered, he came up huge yet again.
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