That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out the fight report here.
“All the credit to Errol Spence,” says Garcia, who remarkably didn’t land more than 10 punches in any single round. “He’s the truth. He’s for real. He put up a great fight and executed the gameplan well. He kept the distance at his favor. I wasn’t able to get my rhythm going and he did what he had to do. I tried to make adjustments but he was able to keep executing the gameplan in his favor.”
Spence: 'It would be my honor to fight [Pacquiao] next'
Manny Pacquiao climbs through the ropes and congratulates Spence, then wanders off to take photos some with Garcia’s team. Spence all but falls over himself trying to get Pacquiao back over for his in-ring interview, where he challenges the eight-division champion to a fight in this same stadium this summer.
“Tell Manny Pacquiao to come back over here,” Spence says. “It would be my honor to fight him next.”
Says Pacquiao: “Yeah, why not? We’ll give the fans a good fight. I’m so happy to be here in Dallas and I’m hoping I will be back here soon.”
Errol Spence Jr wins by unanimous decision!
Spence wins a unanimous decision, predictably, to retain his IBF welterweight title for a third time. The official scores are 120-107, 120-108 and 120-108.
Round 12
Spence is one hell of a fighter. He just keeps coming, trying to close the show. More of the same throughout the final round: a boxing clinic. Garcia knows how to protect himself, to his credit. But his corner has done him no favors at all by keeping him in this fight. 120-108: a complete whitewash. Ain’t gonna be no rematch. Don’t want one. Stand by for the official scorecards.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 120-108 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Updated
Round 11
CompuBox says Spence is outlanding Garcia by a 282-63 margin through 10 rounds. Garcia can’t win this fight. Spence is just teeing off and it seems all that remains is the moral victory of going the distance with an elite champion at a higher weight. I believe this fight should be stopped. The referee is taking a closer look. Garcia has yet to be truly buzzed, but this is completely one-sided. This is why weight classes exist.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 110-99 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Round 10
Spence is looking to finish the fight, bouncing one punch after another off Garcia, who is too brave for his own good. Spence is throwing the entire arsenal at his opponent: hooks, straight punches and uppercuts to the head and body. And they’re all landing or coming close enough to completely nullify whatever attacking instinct Garcia has left. Another round for Spence.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 100-90 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Round 9
Spence is coming forward with urgency, throwing and landing punches in combination. Garcia is starting to take more and more punches on the chin. Spence is battering Garcia into the ropes with unanswered combinations. Garcia is on the run. Time to stop this. The outcome is certain. Don’t let it be a night Garcia loses something he can’t get back.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 90-81 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Round 8
This is an utterly dominant perfomance. Spence is pouring it on but never at the expense of his composure. Even when Spence is in the pocket, Garcia can’t find the openings to counter. We’re eight rounds in and it’s like Garcia hasn’t even got started. He’s going to need a stoppage to win and at this point that would seem impossible for Garcia, who’s not a big knockout puncher to begin with. The only remaining question is whether Spence is content to run out the clock for a lopsided decision or if he wants to step on the gas and get Mikey out of there.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 80-72 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Updated
Round 7
Clearly, Garcia needs to take risks if he’s going to have any chance, because what’s played out so far is not going to be enough. Not even close. Spence’s four-inch advantages in height and reach were always imposing on paper, but his ability to use every millimeter of them so skillfully is something to behold. More of the same in the seventh round. But now Spence is mixing in the uppercut into his combinations, which are coming with greater frequency. Garcia doesn’t appear to be in danger of being badly hurt, but the exercise is starting to feel a bit repetitive and pointless. You wonder how much longer Garcia’s brother and trainer, Robert, will allow it to continue.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 70-63 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Round 6
Spence is in total command, mixing up that straight left between hooks and straight punches beautifully. He’s using that right jab so effectively and starting to follow it up with unpredictable left hands that are moving Garcia back. Spence lands a crushing right hook and Garcia fires back, but can’t do anything to stem the tide. Garcia is taking a beating. I have it six rounds to zero at the scheduled halfway point.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 60-54 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Updated
Round 5
Garcia, at the behest of his trainer and brother Robert Garcia, immediately springs from the corner to pressure his opponent. He needs to throw the taller, longer man off balance so he can land something. Anything. But as Garcia ventures into the pocket, Spence is countering with pinpoint accuracy. I’ll tell you, this is one-way traffic so far. Garcia’s inspired start to the fifth has been erased as Spence continues to pepper away with a variety of punches to the head and body. Garcia’s face starting to show the toll of the action as he retreats to his stool after the bell.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 50-45 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Updated
Round 4
Spence lands a few more left hands, mixing up the hook and the straight to keep Garcia guessing all while staying active with the jab. He’s scoring quite effectively and keeping the action in the middle of the ring. Spence’s range is giving Garcia big problems: he’s landing the crisper and more telling blows with volume and variety. Garcia can’t figure out a way close the distance so he can counter. CompuBox says Spence has landed 67 of 265 punches (25%) compared to 22 of 106 for Garcia (26%).
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 40-36 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Round 3
Spence is picking up the pace in the third and starting to bring Garcia’s tight guard down with a series of sharp body shots, followed by a left down the middle and a left hook. He’s beating the smaller man to the punch. Garcia can’t land anything of substance. Best round so far for Spence.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 30-27 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Round 2
Spence lands a straight left to the head early on, the first solidly landed power punch of the night. The size advantage is very clear under the lights. Garcia still trying to negotiate his way inside for countering opportunities. Spence misses with a right leaving an opening for Garcia but he can’t capitalize. Garcia is showing different angles and starting to time his left hook but it’s not found the target yet. Garcia walking Spence down a bit a times and starting to figure things out, it seems. A closer round than the first but we’ll score it to Spence on higher number of punches thrown and landed.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia (Spence Jr 20-18 Garcia)
Updated
Round 1
The bell! The southpaw Spence immediately tries to establish his right jab, more of a rangefinder. Garcia sitting back and looking for opportunities to counter. Spence continues the probing jabs into the second half of the round and Garcia hasn’t thrown much of anything, simply measuring the task before him. Spence finally follows a right jab with a straight left to the body that lands but doesn’t hurt his opponent. Spence easily takes the opening round on activity, throwing and landing more punches.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia (Spence Jr 10-9 Garcia)
Final instructions from the referee. Seconds out. Not much longer now. We’ll pick it up with round-by-round commentary from here ...
And here’s Spence! He’s walked out by the Lancaster High School marching band, then makes his final approach to Yella Beezy’s That’s On Me Baby. This crowd is amped up. The fighters are in the ring and Jimmy Lennon Jr is making the announcements.
The fighters are making their entrances. First it’s Garcia, wearing a black cowboy hat and a his WBC lightweight title belt, entering alongside a mariachi band to the roar of more than 47,000 specators. It’s a pro-Garcia crowd, no doubt. But Spence is no stranger to hostile environments after whipping Kell Brook at Bramall Lane two years ago.
Spence is a soft-spoken personality and hasn’t done much talking in the build-up to tonight’s fight. But don’t let the mild-mannered disposition fool you: the 2012 US Olympian has finished his last 11 opponents inside the distance, the third-longest active knockout streak among current world champions (after Artur Beterbiev’s 13 and Gervonta Davis’s 12).
“I’m always calm, that’s just my demeanor,” Spence said at Wednesday’s final presser. “I could talk to Mikey Garcia in the locker room before the fight then come out and knock his head off. I’m always on go. I’m naturally like this. I’ve been ready to go for eight weeks. I’m tired of seeing him and I’m just ready for fight night.”
Spence is the taller, sturdier man by quite a bit. His four-inch advantages in height and reach are realities not lost on the oddsmakers, but neither man believes they will be the deciding factor.
“The size difference won’t matter,” Spence said. “Skill for skill and talent for talent, I’m more dominant than him in every aspect. I’ll beat him at anything he wants to do. On paper he’s the toughest opponent to date, but once we get in the ring we’ll find out.”
He added: “This win makes me pound-for-pound number one. Mikey has a great record and a big fan base and I feel like winning this fight turns me into a star. Everyone wants to take Floyd Mayweather’s place as the face of boxing, and this puts me on the right track to become the face of boxing and the best fighter in the world.”
Benavidez steamrolls Love
David Benavidez lays waste to J’Leon Love in the final PPV undercard bout, blasting out Floyd Mayweather’s protégé 74 seconds into the second round. Maybe a bit of a quick stoppage by referee Laurence Cole, but Benavidez (21-0, 18 KOs) was clearly the superior fighter. An utter dumpster fire of an undercard, but the main event should more than make up for it.
David Benavidez returns in a big way, landing 61 punches in 4:14 of total action. That's 15 landed punches PER MINUTE 🔥@PBConFOX @premierboxing #BenavidezLove
— CompuBox (@CompuBox) March 17, 2019
Well, that was quick. Lindolfo Delgado improved to 9-0 with nine knockouts after a one-round destruction of James Roach in a wildly lopsided mismatch. Delgado, who hardly broke a sweat, outlanded his opponent by a 33-3 margin before finishing it with a couple of big shots upstairs.
Next up: David Benavidez (20-0, 17 KOs) v J’Leon Love (24-2-1, 13 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight fight.
Then? The fight we’re all here for.
Arreola and Nery win on undercard
In the pay-per-view opener Chris Arreola (38-5-1, 32 KOs), once billed as America’s next big thing at heavyweight, rolled back the years with a third-round knockout of the previously unbeaten Jean Pierre Augustin (17-1-1, 12 KOs). The 38-year-old Arreola buckled his opponent with a straight left jab early in the third before dropping him with a barrage of shots in the corner. Augistin managed to beat the count, but Arreola quickly pounced and referee Neal Young waved it off at the 2:30 mark. With Arreola recommitted to his fitness and looking as trim as ever and the heavyweight division looking awfully grim beyond the big three, don’t be surprised if the Californian fights his way into another title shot … even though it’s been nearly a decade since his doomed bid against Vitali Klitschko.
Arreola's night just opened up. 😳 @nightmareboxing finishes Augustin with a 3RD TKO.
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) March 17, 2019
BUY NOW to watch two Undefeated Champions go head-to-head at AT&T Stadium. #SpenceGarcia: https://t.co/LDTYqPoi3f pic.twitter.com/6WOGSsUvxb
In the second TV bout Mexico’s Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) surged to a fourth-round knockout of Puerto Rico’s McJoe Arroyo (18-3, 8 KOs) in a matchup of former bantamweight champions. Nery dropped his overmatched opponent in the second, the third, then twice in the fourth before the Arroyo’s corner refused to let him continue into the fifth. A smashing US debut for the Tijuana puncher.
What a debut for Nery, 4 knockdowns and TKO. Luis Nery putting us on notice.
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) March 17, 2019
BUY NOW to watch two Undefeated Champions go head-to-head at AT&T Stadium. #SpenceGarcia: https://t.co/LDTYqPoi3f pic.twitter.com/hTjZeVMnZV
The final preliminary fight before Spence and Garcia was supposed to be a 10-round super middleweight clash between David Benavidez and J’Leon Love. But instead we’re being served … a scheduled six-round swing bout between lightweights James Roach (5-1, 5 KOs) and Lindolfo Delgado (8-0, 8 KOs)? Uh, OK. Fox trying to juice those pay-per-view sales, it seems.
Updated
Preamble
Welcome to the Lone Star State for tonight’s showdown between Errol Spence Jr and Mikey Garcia. They say everything’s bigger in Texas and tonight’s main event is just about as big as it gets in boxing: two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world putting their undefeated records on the line at the 100,000-seat home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs), a former title-holder at 126lbs, 130lbs and 135lbs and the current lineal champion at 140lbs, is scaling yet another division to challenge Errol Spence Jr for the IBF welterweight strap that he’s owned since knocking out Kell Brook at Bramall Lane in 2017. It’s a mission impossible in the eyes of many as Spence is no ordinary welterweight: he’s a large man for the division with knockout power in either hand who falls in or around the top five of most credible pound-for-pound lists.
So it’s no surprise that Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) is about a 4-1 favorite in the third defense of his welterweight title, but Garcia from the start has insisted he’s seen something in the bigger man’s game. There’s also the allure of daring to be great, say nothing of the larger payday such challenges afford: both men will bring home career-high $3m purses for tonight’s event.
“Getting this victory will forever leave my name in the history books,” Garcia said at Wednesday’s final press conference. “No other fighter is daring to do what I’m doing. I’m here to make history and this fight does that. This fight is about big challenges and obstacles.”
He added: “I have to fight the best fight of my life. If I don’t, then I can’t overcome the challenge. You don’t win a fight with size and weight. We fight smart, we fight intelligently and pick our shots. There are a lot of factors. That’s how I win this fight.”
One more undercard bout awaits before Garcia and Spence walk in about an hour’s time.
Bryan will be here shortly.
