Spence/Garcia. SKY. $35. Sunday

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https://fightnews.com/spence-garcia-make-weight-2/94536

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Errol Spence Wants To Massacre Danny Garcia Tonight
December 5, 2020-

IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr isn’t playing around for his fight tonight against the always lethal Danny Garcia at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Fresh off his car accident from a year ago, Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) says his goal is to “massacre” Danny or “beat him up” in a one-sided 12 round decision.

It’s important in Spence’s mind to make sure he wins decisively against Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) because he wants to show his critics that he’s still the same fighter he was before his car wreck in 2019.

It doesn’t help that many boxing fans say that Spence was given a gift decision against his opponent ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter last year in September at the Staples Center in Los Angles, California.

Although Spence’s coach wanted him to box Porter from the outside, he opted to slug it out with him at close range, making the fight a lot harder than it should have been.

“I can’t say it’s the biggest fight of my career, but it’s definitely a huge fight,” said Spence to Morning Kombat. “I really can’t put anything on top of the Kell Brook fight, fighting in somebody else’s hometown in front of 30,000+ fans, his fans.

“But it [Garcia] is a huge fight. If not the first, it’s probably the second because I’m coming off of my accident, and I’m fighting at home in my return fight.

“Danny Garcia is a great fighter, and nobody has ever blown him out of the water,” said Errol.

Back when Spence fought Kell Brook in 2017, the British fighter was at the height of his popularity, still holding his IBF welterweight title, and coming off a fifth-round knockout win over a prime middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin.

When Spence fought Brook, it was in front of 30,000+ British fans in Sheffield, England. Brook was still in the prime of his career, unlike Garcia, who has beaten twice since 2017.

Tonight, Spence will be fighting in front of a much smaller crowd than that at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and the fans will be on his side, not Garcia’s.

Going into the UK and beating Brook in front of his own fans made it more meaningful for Spence.

Spence is not Worried About Danny’s Left Hook
“Of course, you have respect for a punch, but I don’t react to it,” Errol said when asked if he has respect for Danny’s no-look left hook. He can throw it all he wants, but he’s got to land it.

“He said he was going to win and upset me at home. I’m focused on what’s in front of me.

“I envision getting my hand raised,” Spence said when asked to predict an outcome for tonight’s clash with Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia.

It sounds like Spence is being a tad bit disingenuous by casting doubt about Garcia’s ability to land his big trademark left hook that he likes to throw.

Garcia will land his left hook tonight at some point, and it’s only a question of whether Spence will be able to take it without going down.

As many times that Spence was hit by Porter’s best shots in their fight in September 2019, you have to believe that Garcia will connect with his left hook a lot.

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Spence-Garcia undercard results

By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

In the first tv fight on FS2 PBC, Dallas’ super middleweight Burley Brooks (6-1, 5 KOs), a chief sparring partner of Errol Spence Jr., was in a bruising fight with the rugged Marco Delgado (7-1, 5 KOs) out of Anaheim, CA over six rounds. It was a scrappy fight from the opening bell as Delgado landed a rabbit punch to the back Brooks head and when he retaliated, he was quickly warned by referee Neil Yoing. Brooks picked up his activity in the 2nd round landing to the body of the shorter Delgado as Delgado worked inside the lankier Brooks. In the fifth round, Brooks was given two low blow warnings and when he went south again, he was deducted a point. In the sixth and final round, Brooks landed another low blow and was deducted another point. In the end, the low blows were too much too overcome for Brooks. Scores read 59-53 twice for Delgado and 57-55 for Brooks as Delgado came out with split decision victory.

In an entertaining battle of Texans, super bantamweight Juan Tapia (10-3, 3 KOs) out of Brownsville was a step ahead of the tough Fernando Garcia (13-3, 8 KOs) all night to win a unanimous decision. The stocky, muscled Tapia came out from the opening frame flicking his jab and displayed fast hands on Garcia. Garcia did his best to fend off Tapia, but he was relentless in his attack. Garcia had his moments when they exchanged, landing inside and with an occasional overhand right. Over eight rounds, two judges scored it 79-73 and the other 78-74 for Tapia. Garcia is a part of Derrick James stable of fighters at his gym in Dallas.

In the opening bout of the mega showdown between unified welterweight champ Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. and two-division champ Danny “Swift” Garcia, lightweight Frank Martin (12-0, 9 KOs), a former 2016 National Golden Glove champ out of Indianapolis, showed a versatile attack to the head and body of veteran Tyrone Luckey (12-13-4, 8 KOs) out of Long Beach, NJ. Martin dropped Luckey twice in the second round, once in the fourth and one last time in the fifth where Luckey remained on one knee through the count of ten. It was one too many body shots from the slick southpaw who was in camp with Spence Jr. and had trainer Derrick James in his corner. Time 2:31 of round five of the scheduled eight as Martin remained undefeated with the KO.

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In a WBA world title eliminator, featherweight Eduardo Ramirez (24-2-3, 11 KOs) out of Los Mochis, Mexico, flattened Miguel Flores (24-4, 12 KOs) from Dallas with a vicious right hook in round 5 that landed squarely on the jaw of Flores and ended the fight. Ramirez set up the “kill” shot with a straight left that landed on the left shoulder of Flores. Flores somehow got to his feet and referee Laurence Cole began his count, but after a quick wobble, Cole rightly waived it off. Southpaw Ramirez controlled the first few rounds of the fight landing his right, left combinations as Flores did his best to counter. Ramirez, though, put an end to the fight at 20 seconds of round five with his big, one punch knockout. Flores picked up Ramirez to show good sportsmanship after the loss.

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Fundora, Josesito, Ramirez stop foes
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By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

In a super welterweight WBA world title eliminator, the “Towering Inferno” Sebastian Fundora (16-0-1, 11 KOs) from Coachella, CA at almost 6’6” used an array of uppercuts, hooks and straight shots to annihilate late replacement Habib Ahmed (27-2-1, 18 KOs) out of Accra, Ghana, on Saturday night in front of a raucous crowd at AT&T Stadium on the Spence-Garcia undercard. Fundora was originally scheduled to fight Jorge Cota. Once Fundora buckled the knees of Ahmed early in the first round with an uppercut, it was pretty much target practice for him. After another onslaught in round 2, referee Laurence Cole waived it off at 1:30 to earn the TKO victory of the scheduled 12. The tall, slender Fundora owned a 6 inch height advantage over the veteran Ahmed, although it appeared to be much more. The affable Fundora told PBC’s Jordan Plant ringside after the fight he wouldn’t mind fighting the likes of Julian Williams next, but first he has Christmas shopping to finish.

Welterweight “The Riverside Rocky” Josesito Lopez (38-8, 21 KOs) from Riverside, CA put on a dominating performance against Francisco Santana (25-9-1, 12 KOs) out of Santa Barbara, CA. Lopez dropped Santana in the first round with a right hook after shots to the body, again in rounds nine and tenth to score the TKO victory at 1:22 of the final round. Lopez was in control the whole way, although he was cautious at times as Santana swung for the fences himself. Lopez continues to get big fights with his fan-friendly style and with world-class trainer Robert Garcia in his corner. Lopez told Fightnews in an exclusive interview before the fight that he hopes to get another world title shot before he retires. He should be on his way with the big win in Dallas.

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Spence defeats Garcia by unanimous decision

By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) retained his titles with a twelve round unanimous decision over Danny “Swift” Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. Returning after a brush with death in a high-speed car crash more than a year ago, Spence pretty much controlled the fight, winning by scores of 116-112, 116-112, 117-111.

Spence outlanded Garcia 187-117, each landed 103 power shots, but Spence outjabbed Garcia 84-14.

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Sebastian ‘Towering Inferno’ Fundora (16-0-1, 11 KOs) obliterated the overmatched Habib Ahmed (27-2-1, 18 KOs) in scoring a second-round knockout. Fundora, 6’5 1/2″, gave up his height and stood at medium range bombing the hapless Habib with looking hooks to the head and body. In the second round, Fundora buzzed Ahmed with a powerful hook to the head that left him defensiveness. Fundora then tagged him at will until referee Lawrence Cole waved it off. This fight showed that Fundora, 22, is ready to take on better opposition.

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The Truth” is set free and wins big in Big D!

By Jeff Zimmerman

In one of the most anticipated matchups in boxing in quite some time, unified welterweight champ and owner of the IBF and WBC strap, Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr.(27-0, 21 KOs) battled two-division world champ Danny “Swift” Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs), in his first fight since his horrific single car accident early morning last October in his hometown of Dallas. The fight was staged in front of a pro-Spence crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, also the home of the Dallas Cowboys and shown live on Fox Sports PBC pay-per-view.

Spence, showed once again why he is still “The Truth” as he came right after Garcia from the opening bell and put on textbook performance to retain his titles with a fairly easy unanimous decision win by scores of 116-112 twice and 117-111.

The southpaw Spence used his solid pistol jab to keep Garcia at bay and his big left and right hooks to the body and head over the course of twelve rounds. The biggest question going into the night was whether Spence could take a big shot on the chin from the hard hitting Garcia since he had lost teeth during the wreck, but Spence showed he was good as new as he waived off the first punches landed with a hand gesture to his jaw.

Garcia had his moments and showed off his Philly pedigree by exchanging with Spence at times, but could never land consistently to do any significant damage. Spence cut off the ring and even had Garcia against the ropes in the 8th round and it looked like he wanted to finish the show, but Garcia hung tough til the final bell, showing the heart that made him a champ at 140 and 147.

Spence, 30, was coming off one of the biggest wins of his sparkling career in Sept. 2019 when he won a hotly contested split decision against Shawn Porter at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Spence picked up the WBC belt in the process to go along with the IBF title he snatched from Kell Brook in 2017. Former champion Garcia was chosen as next “mandown” for an early 2020 scrap, before a possible showdown with WBO champ Terrence “Bud” Crawford, who happened to be in attendance ringside. This is a fight that many consider a toss up and the best matchup in all of boxing.

Spence wanted to prove to the world and to himself that he was back at the highest level by keeping Danny Garcia as his opponent.

“I didn’t want any tune-up fights,” Spence said in the build-up to the fight. “I wanted someone who is tough and who could push me to the limit, so I can get back to being Errol Spence Jr.

“I picked Danny Garcia so that I could rise to the occasion. I’m still the top dog in the division. Fighting Danny will show how great a fighter I am.”

Derrick James, the only trainer Spence has had since turning pro in 2012, has always wanted whatever his fighter wants, and even though Garcia was one of the top fighters in the division and a two-division champ, James was on board.

“Errol wants to be challenged and not only challenged, he wants to prove to the world that he is still the best welterweight,” stated James in an exclusive pre-fight interview with Fightnews.com.

The 32-year-old Philly native Garcia had other plans and was up to the challenge. He came to Spence’s hometown to show he’s a road warrior and can win under any conditions. His only blemishes on his resume were two narrow losses to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter in 2017 and 2018.

But Spence with his miraculous recovery in the rearview mirror, proved once again he is still “The Truth” in the welterweight division and all roads lead to Dallas, if there is any hope to crown an undisputed welterweight champ. After another big win at home, let’s hope a Super Bowl match up with Crawford comes to AT&T Stadium in 2021.

Spence: I give my performance a B

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Spence: I give my performance a B

WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr speaks about his win over Danny Garcia on Saturday night in Dallas:

“I’m the taller fighter and he had shorter arms, so the jab made sense to use. Everything was set up off the jab. We were prepared to outpoint him using that jab. I think Lennox Lewis would be proud of me using the jab the way I did.

“I had a great training camp where I was sparring and taking punches. I wasn’t surprised when I had to take a punch in the fight. I had already been taking punches and I’ve always had a great chin anyway.

“I give my performance a B. I think I had a little bit of ring rust.

“But I was in such great shape and took everything seriously in training so that I would not be discouraged by that. I worked my jab and used my angles because that was my best move.

“I’m just thinking about seeing my kids tomorrow and hanging out on my ranch. I’m going to eat some good food and we’ll see what the future holds. It’s been a long year and a half, so I’m going to wind down for a week or two, then get back on it.

“It was a lifelong dream of mine to be a household name in Dallas and I’ve done that. I’m thankful to have that support. I was smiling walking to the ring because it was a long road back. It took a lot of trials and tribulations to get to this point tonight, and it all paid off. I’m here for a reason.

“I proved that I’m back and here to stay. I’m the unified champion of the world for a reason.

“I felt some of his punches, but it wasn’t enough to discourage me from coming forward. He was strong and I give him his kudos. He came to fight and tried to take my titles, but I defended it well at home.

“I’m glad that my hard work and path to get back ended with my titles around my waist again in my hometown in front of my home fans.

“I think I hurt him a bit, but Danny Garcia is very gritty and he’s not going to cower down to anybody. I thought I got him a couple times to the body, but I knew he wasn’t going to back down. He’s a real fighter.”

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https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/f-2/166087