Errol Spence Jr is still the unified WBC and IBF welterweight champion after a very impressive performance against Danny Garcia.
In his first fight since his scary car accident last year, WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr (27-0, 21 KOs) didn’t look like he missed a beat in his return to the ring. More than 16,000 fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas witnessed Spence’s unanimous decision win over former WBC champion Danny Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) to remain the unified champ. For the most part this was a well-paced fight with a good amount of action without being a classic. There were no knockdowns and nothing close to one either (although Garcia did slip in the 3rd round… so he did hit the canvas), but it was a great showing by Spence and a good effort by Garcia, who was clearly the inferior fighter but did have his moments.
It was a pretty active opening round from both men. Spence pressured from his southpaw stance and attacked the body often. Garcia got in a couple of solid blows upstairs with sweeping right hands. As the rounds progressed, Spence was getting the better of the exchanges thanks to some vicious shots downstairs and an effective jab that had Garcia’s left eye swelling. To Garcia’s credit, these were not lopsided rounds and he gave Spence a taste of his own medicine with some body blows and then the aforementioned power right hand.
In the second half of the contest, Spence really ramped up the pressure and Garcia was unable to really cope with Errol’s volume punching and ability to crowd his space. Round eight was a masterclass from Spence, who hammered away at Garcia’s body and head and while he didn’t have him rocked, he certainly roughed him up. Garcia did mount a late rally that was largely a product of Spence taking a couple of rounds off, but Spence resumed his offensive assault in the final couple of rounds and absorbed Garcia’s punches quite well.
Garcia had a classy post-fight speech and gave credit to Spence for the win, but he’s now 0-3 against the big three PBC welters Spence, Keith Thurman, and Shawn Porter. This one was his clearest defeat. Meanwhile, Spence said he aimed to return to the ring in the summer time, but if you were wondering whether he’d call out WBO champion Terence Crawford, who was in attendance, he did not. Instead, Spence said he would just chill with his family at his Texas ranch.
Official result: Errol Spence Jr def. Danny Garcia by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112)
Undercard results
Sebastian Fundora defeated Habib Ahmed via TKO, 1:30 of round 2
Josesito Lopez defeated Francisco Santana via TKO, 1:19 of round 10
Eduardo Ramirez defeated Miguel Flores via KO, :20 of round 5
Preliminary Card
Isaac Avelar defeated Sakaria Lukas via unanimous decision (98-92, 98-92, 98-92)
Vito Mielnicki Jr. defeated Steven Pulluaim via unanimous decision (60-52, 60-52, 60-52)
Marco Delgado defeated Burley Brooks via split decision (59-53, 55-57, 59-53)