Ellerbe: ‘Errol Spence beats Mikey Garcia’

By Chris Williams

Boxingnews24.com

Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe expects Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. to successfully defend his title this Saturday night against challenger Mikey Garcia. Ellerbe likes the overall talent that Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) has going for him, but he thinks he’s going to get worn down by the relentless pressure that the younger, bigger and more powerful IBF welterweight champion Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) on Saturday night on FOX PPV at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Ellerbe isn’t predicting a knockout win, but he sees it as a victory nonetheless for the 29-year-old Spence. Ellerbe doesn’t see Spence as a super fast or the most powerful fighter, but he feels that nice jab and his consistency makes him tough to beat. The constant pressure that Spence puts on Mikey is the thing that Ellerbe thinks will lead him to victory in this fight. Without having the punching power to keep Spence off of him, Mikey is going to lose this fight in Ellerbe’s opinion.

“I think Errol Spence wins that fight for a number of reasons,” Leonard Ellerbe said to Fighthype about Spence’s fight with Mikey Garcia. “I love Mikey as a fighter. He’s a tremendous talent. Having had the chance to see Errol. I’ve been at a number of his fights, but after seeing him in the gym; he worked with Floyd [Mayweather] in training camp five or six years ago. I know what he’s capable of bringing to the table. He’s not the fastest guy in the world. He’s not the strongest guy in the world. There might be one or two attributes that Mikey might have that is better than him. One thing about Errol is he’s very consistent, and it’s hard to beat a guy that’s young, athletic and who’s very consistent. He gets into a rhythm and he does things. It’s hard to beat a big strong guy with a good jab, and he’s with an educated jab and understands the game,” Ellerbe said.

Spence’s hand speed isn’t on par with some of the other welterweights in the division, but his punching power is up there with the top guys. Spence’s power is up there with Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman. Those two might be the biggest punchers in the welterweight division today. Spence’s body punching, relentless pressure that he puts on his opponents, and his great punch resistances makes him a real problem for anybody. You can’t keep him off of you, and he’s willing to hit you all night long. Those type of fighters are real difficult to beat. Even fighters with moderate punching power are hard to beat if they throw nonstop punches like Spence does, and can’t be knocked out. But when you have a fighter like Spence, with top notch power and has a relentless fighting style, it’s impossible to beat them unless you’re willing to take their best shots for 12 rounds.

“What I found out is you’ve got to have something to keep him off of you,” Ellerbe said of Spence. “I watched him and Floyd in camp. He gave Floyd some good work. You got to think when you’re fighting him. He puts mental pressure on you that forces you to make a lot of mistakes. It’s hard to beat a guy with a good jab, and with good sound fundamentals. He’s in good shape for 12 rounds, and he’s looking to punish you. Mikey is a tremendous talent. I watched him beat a couple of fighters, but Errol brings a lot more to the table. He has the skill-set, and he’s relentless and consistent. He hits you on the arms and body and you hurt. It’s not always about hitting you upside the head. Errol breaks you down over a period of time,” Ellerbe said.

Ellerbe didn’t want to discuss what he’ seen from the sparring session that took place between Spence and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2012. Spence is rumored to have given Mayweather a lot of problems until the sparring session was stopped. If Spence was able to get the better of Mayweather with him wearing headgear and large gloves, then what chances does Mikey stand against him on Saturday? It’s going to be tough for Mikey to win this fight unless he catches Spence with the perfect shot or if he had a game plan that goes straight to his weakness in his game.

“It wouldn’t surprise me, because you have something to keep him off you. You can turn him all day and do this, but he can walk through that,” Ellerbe said.

Mikey was able to beat light welterweights Adrien Broner and Sergey Lipinets, but he didn’t look dominating in either of those fights. A weight drained looking Broner fought poorly in the first six rounds against Mikey, but he rallied in the second half of the fight to make it competitive if not close. Lipinets had Mikey bruised, bloody and batter in losing a 12 round decision to him last year in a fight that was closer than the scores handed in by the three judges.