Reliable sources say the event will be announced later today for Cowboy’s Stadium.
I am just going to have to learn to accept it, I guess.
I have made it clear that I am not a fan of rising welterweight superstar Errol Spence Jr (24-0, 21 KOs) being matched with pound for pound elite lightweight Miguel “Mikey” Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) as has been rumored and openly campaigned for by the smaller fighter. Too bad for me. Reportedly the fight will be made official later tonight for March 16th at the massive for Cowboy’s Stadium. Interestingly, it will be a FOX PPV rather than a Showtime produced show. That is a curious detail that has me wondering about the last premium network standing’s place in the PBC line up and the sport as a whole, but that is a separate article.
The reason I hate this fight is simple. Errol Spence Jr is a huge welterweight and an absolutely dynamic athlete. He’s also a really solid, borderline great technical fighter. Mikey Garcia is the better technician though, of course. He is at worst the fourth best technical fighter in the sport behind only Vasyl Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, and Oleksandr Usyk. That might even be harsh. Really I’d argue only Lomachenko is unarguably the superior craftsman. It won’t matter though. Mikey is an average sized if not small 135 lber who is moving up to take on a monster of a 147 lb fighter in Spence who needs to really work hard to even make that weight.
A lot is being made of Garcia’s bravery here in not only taking the fight but largely making it himself with his insistence on it. I don’t like that narrative either. Sure, there is physical danger in the ring and it would be amplified by the size difference, but Mikey Garcia is a brilliant fighter. He knows he can keep himself safe in all likelihood. He also knows his career is safe. He can’t lose this fight. If he gets blown out in one there will be grumbling directed at PBC for making the fight, but it won’t be directed at him. If he is kind of competitive and does something like go the distance, it is a win. If he is really competitive and loses a close battle, it is a big win for Mikey Garcia. If he somehow pulls it off, he’s pulled one of the great wins in the history of the sport.
The reverse is all true for Errol Spence Jr. There is no way he can win this fight. None. Sure, he will certainly get the W in end, but boxing is a perception game. If he murders Mikey quick, it was a mismatch anyway. If he struggles in any moment of the fight or somehow over its duration, then how can he be as good as he is supposed to be if he had real difficulties with a smaller, less athletic man? That last point is an important one too. There is a rich history of smaller men coming up in weight to upset bigger men for sure, especially from lightweight to welterweight. What there is no history of is a less athletic fighter moving up to beat a bigger, stronger, faster man. It isn’t going to happen here either.
I’m glad both these guys will get great pay days. I’m big fans of both, just not this kind stake-less matchup that ties up two two elite fighters for no good reason. Ready or not though, here it comes.
