Errol Spence Jr dominates Mikey Garcia in Dallas to retain IBF welterweight world title and calls out Manny Pacquiao
ERROL SPENCE JR dominated Mikey Garcia in his hometown of Dallas, Texas, to successfully defend his IBF welterweight world title for the fourth time.
Garcia, 31, jumped 17lb for the fight, leaving his WBC lightweight title in an attempt to become a five-weight world champion – but the old saying “A good biggun’ will always beat a good littlun'" reigned true.
After the fight, Spence, 29, said: “I felt good, I wanted to put on a great performance.
“Even the top spectators, Sugar Ray Leonard, all them guys, they felt like he was too smart and I couldn’t box – you’ve seen it today I can box, I can move my head I can do all that if I want to.
“The game is to be smart and see signs – I had the height advantage and the reach, so why not use my jab and take something away from him that he likes to do when he jabs.
“I give Mikey Garcia all the credit, even for taking this fight and giving me the opportunity.”
Spence began the bout by controlling the action with a superior jab, in the battle of southpaw vs orthodox, lefty Spence was the one controlling the range with the piston like lead.
Some big shots landed by Spence in the sixth but Garcia comes out fighting!
Getting nice and hot as we move into the seventh pic.twitter.com/wCCULZC0yC
Garcia had begun the affair on the front foot, but the body work of Spence when the fight got to mid-range was devastating enough for the challenger to retreat in order to avoid punishment.
Despite having the size advantage, Spence won the opening half by outworking Garcia – though the second half of the bout was a pure display of bullying in the ring by “The Truth”.
Rounds seven to nine could not have been told apart as the champion kept his dominating form consistent.
Spence began to land with the left-hook round the ear of Garcia which would soon be followed up by clubbing hooks as the challenger somehow remained upright.
The ninth stanza saw Spence really tee of on Garcia, who was sporting a swollen face all over, as the relentless hooks and uppercuts could have forced the ref to step in at any moment.
Spence looking to finish but Garcia says strong in the ninth!#SpenceGarcia @premierboxing pic.twitter.com/MsZlLrJnIu
But the fight carried on into the 10th were Spence’s relentless workrate had not slowed down and the left-hand could not miss, rebounding of Garcia’s face as the body shots soon followed.
In round 11 Spence burst into action once again, touching Garcia all over before finishing the combination with a solid hook knocking the head of the challenger back, who could only defend at this point.
Spence did not stop the work in the 12th and final round, piercing out the jab and perfectly whipping round southpaw hooks right until the final 10 seconds.
As the fight concluded, the result was convincing and unanimous – with all three judges scoring every round to the champion.
“75 [punches] to 345, that tells the whole story.” – Joe Goossen
Rewatch #SpenceGarcia FULL FIGHT: https://t.co/LDTYqPoi3f pic.twitter.com/HllTg9rLXW
After the win, Spence called out Manny Pacquiao, 40, who is fresh off a WBA 'regular’ world title defence against Adrien Broner back in January.
Pacman accepted the callout, and shared the ring with Spence afterwards, as Garcia was left to admit his power and strength could not translate as high as welterweight.
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