Current lightweight titlist Mikey Garcia, who won his first world title down at 126 pounds, caused quite a buzz a month or so ago, when he informed RingTV.com that he is deadly serious about moving up from 140 to tackle reigning IBF welterweight champ and fellow pound-for-pound entrant Errol Spence this year: “I want to do that in December,” the unbeaten Garcia told the website of The Bible of Boxing back in June.
Here we are closing in on Garcia’s interesting and possibly hard July 28 unification clash with rival 135 pound champ Robert Easter, and Mikey has not changed his mind one bit. Deadly serious that yes, he does want Spence and how he knows full well what he’d be up against if the fought “The Truth,” Garcia spoke with Fight Hub TV.
“No one believes me but when it happens, you know, you guys are gonna be surprised. I’m very serious,” Garcia said. “I really would love that fight. I’m not looking past Robert Easter but if everything goes well and we’re not injured or anything like that, the other fight that excites me would be an Errol Spence fight and the challenges he presents are so great that that’s what motivates me the most.”
If Garcia does a number on Easter (who holds height and reach advantages over Garcia) and looks good in winning, will fight fans buy the idea of a Spence-Garcia fight? It’s an intriguing one, that’s for sure. Spence looks pretty much unbeatable right now, but the same could be said of Garcia. The big difference is of course the weight between the two pound-for-pound entrants.
Garcia spoke about this issue with Fight Hub:
“I can feel the size difference [fighting guys at 140],” Mikey explained. “[I’ve had] Two fights at 140, against Adrien Broner and Sergey Lipinets — those fights, although we were at 140 on weigh-in, fight night they were a lot heavier. I was probably about ‘47, ‘48 on fight night, they were probably 155 or close to 160, ‘cause I could just feel the size, I could see it. But I still have the ability to fight and overcome that size disadvantage, that strength. So Errol Spence, a little different, ‘cause he’s also very talented. Technically he’s very, very talented, great fighter. And he still has that size and weight advantage, but that’s what excites me because everybody says no, you guys think it’s a joke and I’ma do it!”
If Garcia could actually make his dream come true and defeat Spence, he certainly would accomplish a quite amazing feat. Garcia deserves our full respect for daring to be great. Really great. But does Spence want the fight, and what does the Texan southpaw have to gain from this match-up?
Could it actually happen before the end of the year?