BIG FIGHT PREVIEW
The path that brought Mikey Garcia to Texas to challenge Errol Spence
DARING to be great is a recent and somewhat irksome addition to the boxing lexicon. Based on its short history, it is a deceptive term applied to fights that have been made not because Fighter A is daring to be great but because they have simply weighed up the riskreward ratio of boxing Fighter B, often much bigger and better, and decided the bumper paycheck is worth the potential damage they will receive. It is a phrase used to gloss over what would otherwise be labelled a mismatch. It describes an opportunity a boxer perhaps doesn’t deserve; one for which they will invariably have to suffer.
That said, there are some grey areas. Mikey Garcia, for instance, finds himself towards the more explainable end of the daring to be great spectrum when he fights Errol Spence Jnr for his IBF welterweight title this Saturday (March 16) in Texas. As a four-weight world titlist with 39 straight wins to his name, the Californian can clearly look after himself. At 31, he is in his fighting prime; nowhere near the cashing-out phase. What’s more, he has options, a few of them, and has already shown an ability to float between weight divisions and win and defend various titles. So, yes, while Garcia leaping from lightweight – the division in which his last fight took place – to welterweight to challenge arguably the best 147lb fighter on the planet can be construed as him daring to be great, this is no mismatch, nor a cynical hit-and-run cash grab. Garcia is not daring in the same way Amir Khan was daring against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Kell Brook was daring against Gennady Golovkin. He is both prepared and entitled to have a go. “This is history in the making,” Garcia, 39-0 (30), said. “I’m trying to establish a great legacy. This fight
Elliot Worsell explains why Spence-garcia might turn out to be the best matchup of the year
SIZE ALWAYS MATTERS BUT WHEN YOU GET IN THERE, IT’S ABOUT SKILLS AND INTELLIGENCE”
truly excites and motivates me.
“We are going up in weight and needed to do a different type of training. We wanted to make sure that we gained a little bit of mass so that I can hold off Errol Spence’s weight and strength.”
If wanting a welterweight baptism of fire, Spence, 24-0 (21), is about as real as it gets. Known as “The Truth”, he is a physically imposing southpaw with an ability to box and brawl and switch it up numerous times during the space of a single round. He is well-schooled, a man of few weaknesses, and was earmarked for greatness long before venturing to England in 2017 to disfigure Brook and rip the IBF title from his grasp.
So far, in fact, Spence, 29, has been too good for every welterweight he has faced in his six-year pro career. He was too good for Brook, too good for Leonard Bundu, too good for Chris Algieri and, since becoming champion, has been too good for Lamont Peterson and Carlos Ocampo as well. Every one of those men were not only outclassed by Spence, they were manhandled and broken. They were chewed up, swished around like pieces of unwanted gristle, then spat out.
“This is something I’ve been waiting for my whole life,” said the Texan. “I’m focused and prepared for this challenge.
“Size always matters, but, when you get in there, it’s about skills and intelligence. I’m not going to rely on size. I’m going to focus on my talent. If I can roll through him, I’ll show my killer instinct and try to get him out of there. I’m going to use my ability to break him down.
“Mikey is undefeated, has a great skill-set and has won a title at 140lbs [super-lightweight]. I don’t see him as a small fighter. He has a technical style that’s very traditional. He likes to use angles to set his opponents up.”
This much is true. Garcia, despite emerging from a lower weight-class, is light years ahead of Spence’s previous opponents in terms of poise, intelligence and all-round fighting ability. This has been established at featherweight, super-featherweight, lightweight and super-lightweight, divisions in which he has won world titles, and in one-sided victories over the likes of Robert Easter Jnr, Sergey Lipinets, Adrien Broner, Dejan Zlaticanin and Orlando Salido.
“When I saw him fight Lamont Peterson, I decided that Errol Spence Jnr was the fight I wanted one day,” Garcia said. “People tried to talk me out of it, but now they’re all on board.
“I know he’s a great fighter with a lot of skills and talent. He hasn’t needed to use all his skills, just like me. He does everything well, but nothing spectacular. I just feel like I’m the better fighter. I think I have the advantage everywhere except maybe power, but we’ll find out on fight night.”
If there’s one disappointing element to Spence vs. Garcia it is that they are not the same size – naturally, that is. If they were, the debate – and indeed this story – would concentrate less on that aspect, as well as the whole daring to be great angle, and more on the two phenomenal technicians on display this weekend. There would be talk of Spence’s combination-punching and Garcia’s counter-punching. There would be talk of Spence’s inside work and body attack, as well as Garcia’s jab and pinpoint accuracy and timing. Rather than whine and yearn for something we can’t have, we would treat the two of them as the near-perfect fighting machines they are and see their set-to not as some curious handicap match but the most fascinating fight of 2019.
Then again, one could argue Spence vs. Garcia wouldn’t be happening at all if the playing field was level and both had the option to defend separate titles and claim they were the number one in the same division [as is so often the case in boxing]. Maybe the pair were destined to fight on these terms – unfair though they may seem – and only these terms, with something to prove, with not quite so much to lose.
Accept that and we can enjoy it for what it is. Because, regardless of the weight and height [Spence is 5ft 9ins, Garcia is 5ft 6ins] discrepancy, Spence vs. Garcia will be as good as boxing gets this year, technically speaking, and remains that rarest of things: a battle between two gifted champions in their absolute primes.