Garcia-Spence Jr. -- Fight Analysis
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 15 Mar 2019
The Boxing world has been waiting for at least a year to see if 4 division champion (Featherweight, Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Junior Welterweight), and future hall of famer Mikey Garcia (39-0, 30KOs) face off against IBF Welterweight champion, Errol Spence Jr. (24-0, 21KOs). Many thought the idea of this fight becoming a reality was just talk.
When Garcia won his fourth world title at 140lbs (IBF), instead of defending that title he moved back down to 135lbs and unified his WBC 135lbs crown against fellow titlist Robert Easter (IBF 135lbs). Naturally a Superfight against fellow champion and fellow Pound for Pound (P4P) top 10 fighter Vasyl Lomachenko was on the horizon.
Garcia who stepped away from boxing for a year and a half because of his legal issues with his former Promotional outfit, Top Rank headed by Bob Arum, said the fight against Lomachenko could not be made. So Garcia decided to challenge Spence Jr. who is arguably the best welterweight (147bs) in the world.
Before accepting Garcia?s challenge, Spence Jr. was looking for his own super fight against fellow 147lbs champion Terrance Crawford (WBO) who is also arguably regarded as the best in the division as well.
This Saturday at the AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas, Garcia and Spence finally meet in a fight where anyone who is a true boxing fan is interested in seeing what the outcome will be. There?s an old expression in boxing, ?A good big man will beat a good little man?. Garcia despite his boxing resume is an underdog in this fight because of how good Spence is perceived, punching power, and size advantage.
So what does Garcia have to do Saturday night to overcome Spence?s perceived advantages?
Garcia is an excellent boxer. For those of you who watched Spence-Brook when Spence won his IBF title saw Brook easily out boxing Spence and was clearly ahead on the scorecards. For whatever reason, Brook faded late in the fight and Spence was able to stop him and get the victory. Garcia has no doubt watched that fight and will likely use the same tactics, use good boxing skill, and movement. Garcia has to also utilize good defense, but stand and fight when necessary in order to make Spence respect him. If Spence senses that Garcia fears his punching power it will not go well for Garcia. Reports are that Garcia has prepared himself by sparring taller, larger guys, and has more then held his own in the gym. This writer foresees Garcia not having a problem with Spence?s height. Spence is listed as 5?9 ? whereas Robert Easter is listed as 5?11 (taller than Spence) and Garcia handled him without a problem.
What does Spence have to do to defeat Garcia?
Spence has to maximize his strengths (reach, size, and power). By fight time, Spence may rehydrate from 147lbs all the way to 170lbs (5 lbs short of light heavyweight). Spence must not go into this fight being overconfident. He must cautiously respect Garcia. He is going to have to cut the ring off. Garcia will be the quicker fighter, so Spence will have to time Garcia to negate his speed. When he hits Garcia he has to make it count so he hurts Garcia to take away his confidence. For Spence Jr. to be victorious it comes down to him fighting a smart fight and him imposing his will on Garcia.
This writer picks Mikey Garcia by unanimous 12 round decisions over Errol Spence Jr. Mikey has more experience, speed, and is a more complete fighter then Errol Spence Jr. Mikey Garcia is a star in the boxing world. If he prevails against Spence this Saturday night, Garcia will become Mainstream.
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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