Errol Spence Jr. shuts out Mikey Garcia in UD victory

Many people thought that the smaller Mikey Garcia could win the David vs. Goliath battle against Errol Spence Jr. They were wrong.

Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) was defeated coming into his much-hyped bout against fellow unbeaten champion Errol Spence Jr. (25-0, 21 KOs). Unfortunately for Garcia, jumping up two divisions to welterweight proved to be courageous, yet foolish.

Spence successfully defended his IBF welterweight title against Garcia, and he was never really challenged in the process. Garcia and his fans followed their hearts instead of their minds when they thought a victory over Spence was possible. The fight didn’t live up to the massive pre-fight build up or the $74.95 that FOX charged for pay-per-view.

The judges’ scorecards tell the tale of Spence’s dominant performance. There were two scores of 120-108, which means that Spence won every round based on boxing’s 10-point scoring system. Judge Glenn Feldman scored it 120-107 for Spence which means he scored a single round 10-8 despite the fact there were no knockdowns. That’s the most eye-catching stat of the entire fight.

Rounds 9 and 11 were particularly bad for Garcia. According to CompuBox statistics, Spence landed 51 punches in the 9th and 40 in the 11th. Those were his highest punch connects throughout the bout. In contrast, Garcia landed five punches in round 9 and four punches in round 11. Both rounds were incredibly one-sided.

There was never a moment where Garia looked like he stood much of a chance in this contest. The first several rounds were quiet, and Garcia tried to mount an offensive on several occasions, but he couldn’t get inside of Spence’s 4-inch reach advantage.

Spence kept his jab darting in and out of Garcia’s face all night. He hypnotized him with the right jab, and then he followed it up with straight lefts and hooks. Garcia didn’t have any answers for Spence’s offense other than to hide in a defensive shell. He was too busy attempting to absorb punches, that he never had a chance to throw any of his own.

To be fair, Garcia landed some nice counter punches in the early rounds, but they were too few and far between. Spence systematically broke him down with his supernatural work rate. In 12 rounds of boxing, Spence threw 1,082 punches compared to Garcia’s 406. Spence’s cardio is on another level. The only round he took off was the seventh when he threw 70 punches.

Garcia should be commended for challenging himself against an elite boxer like Spence. Garcia wanted a test, and he found it. He failed, but most suspected he would. Garcia jumped up two weight classes to fight the much larger Spence.

The Spence vs. Garcia bout wasn’t competitive or very entertaining, but it moved Spence up in the pound-for-pound ratings. Spence confronted Manny Pacquiao in the ring after the fight and said he would like to fight him next. He would be favored over the older Pacquiao, but at least Pacquiao stands more of a chance of winning against Spence at 40 years old than Garcia did at 31.