Despite Mikey Garcia being a four-division champion and a fixture of the pound-for-pound list, most observers believed he was biting off more than he could chew when he elected to move up two weight classes and challenge IBF Welterweight Champion Errol Spence Jr.
They were right.
Garcia (39-1, 30 KO) simply had nothing to offer Spence (25-0, 21 KO). After setting the tempo early with his jab and using his reach advantage to mitigate Garcia’s counter-punching, Spence proceeded to completely take over, landing a multitude of brutal left hands and regularly punishing Garcia’s body. This wasn’t simply a matter of a taller, rangier man keeping his smaller foe at range, however; Spence dominated the shoulder-to-shoulder exchanges with equal aplomb.
Despite visibly hunting for the knockout in the later rounds and landing plenty of shots that would have felled the average Welterweight, Spence couldn’t get the finish, but did sweep the scorecards. One judge even gave him a 10-8 for sheer dominance despite Garcia never going down.
The final punch stats had Spence out-landing Garcia nearly five to one.
Spence now has the possibility of a Terence Crawford unification match to tide him over, while Garcia needs to chart a new course. He’s still a champion at 135 pounds, and with Vasiliy Lomachenko making moves to unify, could find himself on a collision course with another generational talent closer to his size.
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