By Geno McGahee
A good big man beats a good little man and that is what we had tonight as IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence, 25-0, 21 KO’s, dominated the smaller Mikey Garcia, 39-1, 30 KO’s, giving him his first defeat via unanimous decision by scores of 120-107, 120-108 (twice).
From the opening bell, Spence used his long reach and southpaw jab to control Garcia. Spence worked off the jab and began opening up with body shots and some good left hands to the head. Garcia could not find his way into the reach of Spence and began to get into survival mode. There was never a moment in the fight where the result was in question. Spence was running away with it.
As the rounds went on, the likelihood of Garcia getting knocked out grew, but he was able to hang in there and take some huge punches, but he never got an offense going. Garcia showed his championship heart but he just could not get inside that reach and didn’t have the power that could turn the tide.
Spence met up with Manny Pacquiao after the fight in hopes to set up a mega fight in his next bout. Pacquiao seemed receptive to the idea, but it doesn’t seem like a good idea for the Pacman at this point.