Errol Spence vs Mikey Garcia

[Alpha]

I'm kind of with Spicoli, in that I feel both had better work to do in their respective divisions first. This is a quality match up tho between 2 elite guys.

Made me think about other lightweights that were successful in jumping straight to 147.

Mosley was the first to come to mind. Armstrong won the welterweight title, while weighing under the lightweight limit. Duran skipped 140. Broner also went straight from 135 to 147.

In saying that, what other successful weigh jumpers that have had success where the styles are similar to this fight?

[imp]

Stupid fight.

When is Spence vs Porter.?!

Why is Mikey not fighting Loma?

[Master]

Stupid fight.

When is Spence vs Porter.?!

Why is Mikey not fighting Loma?

It is not a stupid fight it is an exceptional fight and Garcia is going for it. Credit to him.

[TitoFan]

I can understand the feeling of wanting Garcia and Spence to clean out their own divisions first but.... to me this is a case of damned if you do... damned if you don't.

Haven't some of us here in the past raked GGG over the coals for not jumping up to 168 to meet Andre Ward there?

It smacks of double standard to criticize a fight that both guys are willing to make, when they've both shown the willingness to fight all comers.

Still..... it's a legit point. If Spence wipes the floor with Garcia, he'll get less than 100% credit, just because he's the larger guy. But if Garcia beats Spence, it's an automatic light-year leap into p4p stardom.

Meanwhile, I understand there's good fights for both in their respective divisions.

[Ron Swanson]

I can understand the feeling of wanting Garcia and Spence to clean out their own divisions first but.... to me this is a case of damned if you do... damned if you don't.

Haven't some of us here in the past raked GGG over the coals for not jumping up to 168 to meet Andre Ward there?

It smacks of double standard to criticize a fight that both guys are willing to make, when they've both shown the willingness to fight all comers.

Still..... it's a legit point. If Spence wipes the floor with Garcia, he'll get less than 100% credit, just because he's the larger guy. But if Garcia beats Spence, it's an automatic light-year leap into p4p stardom.

Meanwhile, I understand there's good fights for both in their respective divisions.

Like most I think Spence/Crawford and Garcia/Loma were the best options. But I wonder if they really were options. There was silence about the 2 superior opponents until this fight was nearly done. Could be Bob saying “they’re not going to cancel a PPV fight to begin negotiations with us, this is our chance to talk”. Perhaps Bob is being honest and he wants those fights. Bobs long long long history of lying just makes it hard to believe him.

Either way the winner walks away a PPV fighter making other fights easier to make and the loser has options.

It would be a crime if we don’t get Spence/Crawford and Garcia/Loma

Side note I would have been fine with GGG saying he didn’t want to go to 168. But he was willing for Steiglitz, he was willing for Froch, he was willing for Chavez Jr. That’s my problem with not being willing for Ward. On its own it’s fine, it’s the selectivity that’s trash.

[imp]

Stupid fight.

When is Spence vs Porter.?!

Why is Mikey not fighting Loma?

It is not a stupid fight it is an exceptional fight and Garcia is going for it. Credit to him.

No it’s not.

Garcia should be making the Loma fight and Spence needs to clean up Porter, Crawford and Thurman..ASAP.

Spence is a big 147 fighter and Garcia is tiny..there are weight classes for a reason..Garcia needs to concentrate on Loma first then 147.

[Master]

Stupid fight.

When is Spence vs Porter.?!

Why is Mikey not fighting Loma?

It is not a stupid fight it is an exceptional fight and Garcia is going for it. Credit to him.

No it’s not.

Garcia should be making the Loma fight and Spence needs to clean up Porter, Crawford and Thurman..ASAP.

Spence is a big 147 fighter and Garcia is tiny..there are weight classes for a reason..Garcia needs to concentrate on Loma first then 147.

If Garcia pulls this off he becomes a superstar like Shane/Floyd/Manny did with Oscar when they moved up.

[TitoFan]

What'll happen guys, is that Spence will mop the floor with Mikey... and Mikey will see it was too far a leap to meet a superstar at that weight. He'll come back down and meet Loma, hopefully while still undamaged. Spence will get his Thurmans, Porters and Crawfords. They're not going anywhere.

[Ron Swanson]

What'll happen guys, is that Spence will mop the floor with Mikey... and Mikey will see it was too far a leap to meet a superstar at that weight. He'll come back down and meet Loma, hopefully while still undamaged. Spence will get his Thurmans, Porters and Crawfords. They're not going anywhere.

If they pull decent PPV numbers the fights become easy to make. If it flops it’s easier for everyone to avoid. For this reason I will pay.

[Boxer4life]

Personally I would have much rather seen Garcia - Loma and Spence - Crawford, but no complaints for this match. Errol cleans his clock, I wonder what Mikey sees that makes him want to fight him, but I defintely dont see it for Mikey.

[Alpha]

Sounds like this is going to be on Fox PPV.

[smashup]

Watch Errol Spence Jr vs Mikey Garcia on ITV4 this weekend

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-03-12/...-this-weekend/

[Master]

Mikey Garcia is taking the daring route as he attempts the stuff of legends vs. Errol Spence

When Barack Obama was a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, he was asked to deliver the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was a rousing speech that effectively launched his bid for the presidency three years later.

In it, the future president spoke words that seem to describe Mikey Garcia’s situation as he prepares to move up two weight classes on Saturday and challenge IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in a pay-per-view bout at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“… Hope in the face of difficulty,” Obama said. “Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!”

Garcia clearly has the audacity of hope. For the last several months, ever since he called out Spence, Garcia has answered the same question repeatedly: Why?



It’s not for the money, though Garcia will make plenty of that, more than he could have possibly ever dreamed when he was born poor in Oxnard, California, as the son of Mexican immigrant strawberry pickers in 1987. At 31, Garcia (39-0, 31 KOs) is already one of the best boxers of his era and seemingly on an express ticket to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He’s a boxer, but he’s not of boxing.

He’s made his money outside of the sport as a realtor who is meticulous in properties he’ll invest in and renovate to flip. He’s got the same group of friends he’s had for years. He lives the safe, sane, boring, middle America lifestyle that is so atypical of the free-spending professional athlete of the 21st century.

The man who one day dreamed of becoming a police officer has held major world championships at featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and super lightweight and has set the stage for one of the most intriguing matches of the year.



Though he’s held a belt at 140, he’s really never campaigned at that class. Going to welterweight to fight the guy not many are too interested in fighting is a full two divisions above where he seems to belong. He’ll give up four inches in both height and reach to Spence, a 2012 U.S. Olympian who is a devastating puncher and has been compared from his earliest days as a pro to the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard.

Yahoo Sports ranks Spence the No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, right behind Terence Crawford and just ahead of Vasiliy Lomachenko. Garcia sits in fourth.

Spence is so big and so powerful that when the Premier Boxing Champions was attempting to lure former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin into its fold, it noted the possibility of a future fight for Golovkin against Spence when Spence would make the jump to middleweight.

And here is Garcia, a guy who as recently as 2013 was dropped by Rocky Martinez, a career super featherweight, challenging a guy big enough to fight at middleweight.

It’s crazy. It’s audacious. It’s Garcia. Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all,” and Garcia is taking the daring route.

“If you want to be one of the great fighters who ever lived, you just can’t go along and fight the next guy up all the time,” Garcia said. “If you look at boxing history, all of the great ones, they took some kind of risk. They stuck their necks out to try to prove they were the best. It’s what you have to do.

“So, I hear people tell me, ‘Oh, Errol, he’s too big. He hits too hard. He’s scary. He’s a monster. He’s this and he’s that. Why do you want to fight him?’ Why do I want to fight him? Really? I want to fight him for exactly that reason. All these people are saying, ‘You can’t beat this guy.’ I think I can. That’s why I’m fighting him.”

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/mik...221842548.html

[Spicoli]

I'm kind of with Spicoli, in that I feel both had better work to do in their respective divisions first. This is a quality match up tho between 2 elite guys.

Made me think about other lightweights that were successful in jumping straight to 147.

Mosley was the first to come to mind. Armstrong won the welterweight title, while weighing under the lightweight limit. Duran skipped 140. Broner also went straight from 135 to 147.

In saying that, what other successful weigh jumpers that have had success where the styles are similar to this fight?

Guerrero skipped 140 after a year out. Marquez packed it on for Mayweather who was arguably over 147 with the last minute weight turns and twists. With Mosley at least he had a couple of goes at 147 before Oscar.

Napoles going up for Monzon comes to mind pre 154 division, top talents similar reach and while I'm hoping more competitive Mikey going in 'cold' weight wise doesn't do him a lot of favors.

[TitoFan]

Another famous case of reaching for that ill-fated weight division was the great Alexis Arguello, who tested the super lightweight waters with Kevin Rooney before going up against Aaron Pryor.

Alexis remains an all-time favorite of mine.