Errol Spence Jr (26-0, 21 KOs) expects Danny Garcia to be a real dogfight for him this Saturday night on December 5th.
Spence is defending his IBF and WBC welterweight titles against Danny ‘Swift’ on Fox Sports pay-per-view at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The asking price for the PPV match is $74.99, which may be out of the price range for a long of boxing fans, unfortunately. Junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora vs. Jorge Cota is the co-feature about on the card.
That’s a so-so type of fight given the price tag of $74.99 for Saturday’s Fox Sports PPV card.
Spence wanted Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) as his opponent because he knew that he would have the talent to give him a tough fight, and he would receive credit from the boxing public for beating the former two-division world champion, Garcia.
We’re going to learn whether Spence, 30, is the same fighter he once was from watching him. He’s coming off a car crash last year on October 10th in Dallas, Texas, and he suffered injuries in that fight that some fans believe may have an impact on his career.
Errol wanted Danny Garcia
“I guess we got to see because I feel great and really strong mentally and physically,” said Spence. “Right now, I don’t think I lost anything. That’s still to be seen.
“Of course, that runs through your mind. ‘Am I going to be able to fight again?’ I didn’t tell anybody that was running through my mind, but it was.
“I started sparring in September. I didn’t want a tune-up against somebody that I knew I could beat, and I could knockout in the first round and still leave a lot of questions unanswered.
“I wanted a good opponent that would push me and make me work harder in training camp. Basically, that was Danny Garcia.
“And I was already supposed to fight him before the accident. I’m just continuing with my obligation.
“For me, I don’t really care. I think it’s funny,” said Spence about whether Danny’s father, Angel Garcia, has gotten into his head.
“I’ve been watching Angel and how he acts and how crazy he can act. To me, it’s always been funny, so he can’t get in my head.
“It’s to continue to be explosive, listen to my coach, make adjustments, and I feel that’s important for any fight, to make adjustments,” Spence said about the key to beating Garcia.
“Making sure I’m making adjustments, staying on point, and making sure I’m strong,” said Spence.
It was a good choice for Spence to face Danny Garcia, as this is an opponent that he’s wanted to fight for many years. Thankfully, Spence was able to get the match with Garcia set up before the boxing public lost interest in the match.
Garcia has been beaten twice since moving up to 147 in 2017 in losing to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. The fact that Garcia has decided to face Spence finally signifies that he’s ready to take a big risk.
At 32, Garcia has to go for the tougher fights if he wants to make the most money he can in the remaining years of his career.
Errol talks Porter fight
“Going into that fight, I’d already had my mind made up that I was going to fight his fight and just come forward, and it was going to be what it was going to be,” Spence said about his last match against Shawn Porter.
“It was going to be a dog fight. I probably made little adjustments, but for that fight, it was really just a dog fight. My coach had a strategy, but I didn’t have one.
“He was just going to fight. It was a little bit of risk there, but I knew I could fight on the inside just as good as anybody,” Errol said about his decision to battle Porter on the inside.
“It was about picking my shots and basically just fighting,” said Spence.
It sounds like Spence and his trainer were on the same page for his last fight against Shawn Porter in 2019.
Spence has taken a lot of criticism for his decision to slug with Porter on the inside, but he maintains that he wanted to fight his fight. That decision by Spence almost backfired on him, as he barely beat Porter by a 12 round split decision.
The fight was close enough to allow Porter to muddy the water after the fight by repeatedly telling the media that he believed that he’d done enough to deserve the win.
The fact that Spence knocked Porter down in the 11th round undermined Shawn’s argument that he should have won.
Errol not concerned with crowd
“It won’t be that unusual [fighting in front of a small crowd],” said Spence about his fight against Danny Garcia.
“There won’t be a lot of people there considering how big the Cowboy’s stadium is, but 25,000 fans is still a lot for a boxing match.
I’ll be electrified trying to get the win. My whole thing is not letting another person beat me regardless of fans or no fans cheering. I’m glad we got fans there, but I’m motivated by something deeper,” said Errol.
Not having a huge crowd won’t be a big deal for Spence because he’s still going to have a lot of fans present on Saturday at the AT&T Stadium.
It’s not as if Spence and Garcia will be fighting in front of just their training team and television crew.
With everything that’s on the line for this fight, it doesn’t matter if fans are there are not. Spence needs to win to keep moving forward to the fight that he wants against Manny Pacquiao.
Errol has given up on trying to get a fight against WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford after hearing his latest demands of a 60/40 split in his favor for a unification match.
Spence doesn’t care about Crawford
“I watched it, but I didn’t have any thoughts on it,” said Spence when asked about his view of Terence Crawford’s recent win over Kell Brook.
“I don’t know [if a fight between him and Crawford will happen]. Will it happen if I don’t get past Danny Garcia?
“To tell you the truth, I really don’t care [about Crawford]. I got Danny Garcia in front of me. If I don’t get past him, what top welterweight or Manny Pacquiao will fight me.
“When I get past Danny Garcia, somebody can ask me about somebody else, but right now, my total focus is on Danny Garcia,” said Spence.
Errol is focused on his fight against Danny Garcia, and he doesn’t care about a match against Crawford. There’s a good chance that those two never fight because Crawford isn’t a big draw.
As Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum pointed out, he hasn’t done the hard work to attract interest in his fights the way that Teofimo Lopez has done.
Spence says he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao and a couple of other guys and then move up to 154.
Spence ready for war against Danny Garcia
“I want to come back in the summertime [in 2021],” said Spence. “I got to make this fight go great and then come back in the summertime.
“Fighting a guy like Danny Garcia, who is still tough, and who could easily be a world champion at 147 twice with close losses with Thurman and Porter.
“I’m making a splash on December 5th and another splash in the summertime.
“I think it’s going to be a battle of minds and a dog fight,” said Spence in giving his prediction on his title defense against Danny Garcia on Saturday.
“I’ve never been in a boring fight, and Danny Garcia is never in boring fights.
“I just see our styles clashing, and it’s going to be a fight that everybody doesn’t want to miss. It should be a great all-action fight,” said Spence.
Garcia has got to make it a war for him to have a shot at winning this fight because he’s probably not going to be able to win a decision.
Danny has to come forward and look to engage with Spence and take him out with one of his huge left hooks.