Spence making mistake fighting Brook says Angel Garcia

boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Trainer Angel Garcia says unbeaten #1 IBF Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) is making a big mistake by choosing to fight the more experienced IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) in their fight on May 27 in Sheffield, UK. Angel, the father of WBC 147lb champion Danny Garcia, feels that the 27-year-old Spence should take his time and slowly build his career before he eventually challenges for a world title.

Angel thinks it’s too early for Spence to be fighting for a world title. However, Angel’s own son Danny Garcia captured a world title five years ago when he was just 23-years-old in 2012 in beating Erik Morales.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., who many boxing fans see Spence as the replacement for, was just 21-years-old when he won his first world title back in 1998 when he beat Genaro Hernandez. It seems that Angel wants the 27-year-old Spence to wait until he’s pushing 30 before challenging for a title. That doesn’t make sense if you’re Spence. Why wait until he’s 30 or almost 30 to challenge for a title? If Danny Garcia was able to win a world title at age 23, then why should Spence need to wait until he’s much older than him before fighting for a title? Spence is definitely old enough and experienced enough for him to not only challenger Brook but beat him as well.

Does Angel have another reason why he wants Spence not to be challenging for a title? Could it be that there’s some worry on Angel’s part about Spence being on a crash course with Danny Garcia if the two of them win their next fights? I smell fear. Spence will be the next Mayweather at 147 soon if he cleans out the 147lb division, and I don’t see Angel’s son Danny having the talent to stop him from achieving that goal. Garcia, as good as he was at 140, would likely be little more than a speed bump for Spence if the two of them fought each other. Spence appears to be heading towards greatness in boxing. In the case of Garcia, I think he’s played out his hand in the sport and is heading downhill if he loses to Thurman in their fight on March 4.

“He should do his own thing,” said Angel Garcia about Spence to Fighthype.com. “He should keep doing what he’s doing, and his purse will be bigger. He’s jumping into a fight like that with a guy [Kell Brook] that’s been around. He’s pretty experienced dude. He gave Triple G some problems. He doesn’t need that right now. I understand that [he wants a world title], but that’s going to come. You don’t rush into nothing, bro. It’s going to come. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing, keep winning. I’m not saying he can’t win. I’m just saying do your thing. Keep going slowly and everything is going to fall in place. Everything falls in place at the right time and the right moment,” said Angel.

Spence would be insane to wait on a title shot. He’s got the talent, size and power to beat Kell Brook in front of his own boxing fans on May 27. I don’t think it matters one bit that Spence will be traveling to the UK to fight in front of Brook’s fans. Spence is one of those fighters that just go after his opponents looking to take their heads off. He’s like the welterweight division’s version of Gennady Golovkin. Those types of fighters aren’t bothered by crowd noise. They just keep coming forward looking to take their opponent’s heads off. Brook’s fans can cheer as loud as they want but I don’t see it helping him against Spence. It’s going to work against Brook.

I can understand why Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn wanted the Spence fight to take place in the UK, because it’ll make more money there and he’ll have a chance of winning a decision if it goes to the cards. I just don’t think it will. Spence is such a huge body puncher. He’s also someone that does really well with guys that try and hold and run, which is Brook’s main style of fighting. He likes to run and hold.

Spence’s purse will definitely get bigger if he were to choose to just wait five or six years before he eventually challenges for a title, but that’s kind of stupid for him to follow that advice. Spence can make MUCH more money if he captures a world title and defends it against all comers than he can by fighting as a contender against the top contenders. Heck, it’s not easy for Spence to get guys that want to face him.

If Spence were to stay a contender for the next three to six years to make Angel happy, I think he would be stunting his career in a major way. Spence is 2012 Olympian and he should have made the move to fight for a world title a lot sooner than he did. Olympians don’t need to spend years and years messing around fighting bottom feeders like fighters that don’t have an amateur career. Spence is talented enough to have fought for a world title right out of the gate when he first turned pro in 2013. Obviously, it would have been impossible for Spence to get a crack at a world title at that time, because none of the champions would give a dangerous fighter like him a title shot.

Spence has had to slowly work his way to the No.1 spot in the International Boxing Federation’s rankings for him to get a title shot. Without the ranking, he probably would have never been given a title shot because none of the champions at 147 would give a talented fighter like Spence a title shot in a voluntary defense. He’s too good. The thing is the sanctioning bodies aren’t going to keep a contender ranked #1 for years and years if they don’t step up and take their shot.

That’s the problem with Spence just hanging around year after year getting more experience. Even if Spence did what Angel wants him to do in choosing to bide his time, he likely would drop in the rankings and lose his chance to fight for a belt. That’s why Spence has to take his title shot now. There’s no point in Spence hanging around for ages without challenging for a title. He’s getting bigger, and he probably won’t be able to make the 147lb limit for much longer. If Spence doesn’t take advantage of his opportunity right now to fight for a title, then he’ll be stuck moving up in weight and fighting in the 154lb division, which doesn’t have any big names.

In speaking about Brook’s busted eye socket he suffered in his last fight against Gennady Golovkin, Angel said, “He can come back from that. I don’t know how serious it is. I don’t know if it’s a critical injury, and they’re sugar-coating it. I know he [Spence] wants a world title, but he doesn’t need to go to that level. He don’t need to travel eight hours over the Atlantic Ocean in an aircraft to risk his life if the plane goes down and go out there and fight if he can sit over here. He’s got the best seat in the world right now. Slowly by slowly, he’ll get to the finish line. There’s no rush,” said Angel about Spence.

I don’t agree with Angel that Spence should wait. I think Spence is a much more talented fighter than Angel’s son Danny Garcia. Why should Spence slow his career down when Garcia fought for a world title at age 23? What Angel is basically saying is he doesn’t view Spence as talented as his own son Danny Garcia by saying he shouldn’t be fighting for a world title at age 27. If Garcia and Spence wind up facing each other in 2017 or 2018, I see Garcia knocked out quickly.

Garcia looked terrible in his fights against Lamont Peterson and Robert Guerrero since moving up to 147. Garcia doesn’t have the size for the welterweight division. He was a good fighter at 140, but he’s too small for the 147lb division. If Garcia gets knocked out by Keith Thurman in their fight on March 4, then I see him moving back down to 140 without ever facing Spence. Even if Garcia beats Thurman, I don’t see Angel letting him fight Spence. I think they’re going to steer around him and look to milk the WBA and WBC titles rather than take an even bigger risk by facing Spence and getting knocked out by him.

We don’t know whether Brook’s right eye will be able to handle 12 rounds of hard punches from the big punching southpaw Spence. When you come off an eye injury like the one that Brook suffered in his 5th round knockout loss to middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last September, it’s smart to take at least one tune-up fight. Brook couldn’t do that though, because he was ordered to defend his IBF title against Spence by the IBF sanctioning body. The only way Brook could have taken a tune-up fight was if he vacated his IBF title, and he didn’t want to do that. As such, Brook will be facing what could be the most talented and dangerous fighter in the welterweight division in Errol Spence. That’s not good news for Brook, but he’s the one who made the decision to face Spence and not vacate his IBF title. Now it’s up to Brook to show to the boxing world that he didn’t make a big mistake by not vacating his IBF title.