Mikey Garcia: Spence has better skills than Thurman

Boxingnews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: Lightweight champion Mikey Garcia was impressed with Errol Spence’s 11th round stoppage win over IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook last Saturday night on May 27, and he feels that Spence is right up there with WBA/WBC 147 pound champion Keith Thurman as the best 2 fighters in the division. Mikey says he views Spence as having the better overall boxing skills than Thurman.

Mikey thinks that the two of them would bring in big numbers if they fought each other right now, but he also think that the Thurman vs. Spence fight would be bigger if they let it marinate a little while longer. That’s a risky thing to do though. One of them could get beat while they wait to put a fight together.

Thurman has the speed and the punch accuracy to give Spence a great deal of problems. Brook was beaten Spence to the punch for throughout the fight due to his superior hand speed. Even in the 11th round, Brook landing a lot of clean shots because of his better hand speed. Spence was able to wear Brook down with body shots and occasional big punches to the head.

The injury took a lot out of Brook, making him hesitant to go to war. There was nothing Brook could do once his eye was injured. His trainer Dominic Ingle wanted him to survive until the final bell, but there was no way that Brook was going to be able to go the full 12 rounds with the way that Spence was applying pressure and hitting him with hard body shots.

Thurman’s weight has been going up a lot between fights. He lets himself go in the same way that Kell Brook does. That explain why Thurman appeared to gas out in the 2nd half of his last fight against Danny Garcia. Thurman wasn’t just coasting like some boxing fans think he was. He looked tired, and the only reason he could have been tired was because of the weight that he’d taken off to get ready for the fight. Spence would have an advantage over Thurman because he stays in shape in between fights. Spence’s focus on throwing body shots would be a problem for Thurman, who uses a lot of head movement to keep from taking head shots.

It would be harder for Thurman to evade all the body shots Spence would be throwing at him.

Spence seems like the more solid of the two right now as far as recent performances. Thurman barely won his last 2 fights against Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. Those are good opposition, but still barely won those fights. Thurman probably could have done a lot better job against Danny Garcia if he’d continued to fight hard after he built up a wide lead in the first 6 rounds. It looked like it was too easy for Thurman in the first half of the fight. When Thurman backed off and started coasting, he let Garcia back in the fight.

“Congratulations to him,” said Mikey Garcia to Fighthype about Spence’s win over Brook. “He looked real good. I kind of thought he would win, but it would be very close fight. In the early rounds, he might have been trying to adjust. Kell Brook was coming on real strong. It looked like Kell Brook was going to take control. But halfway through the fight, Kell Brook slowed down just enough to allow Spence to come on and get into the fight again. Kell Brook started to tire. I don’t know if it was the weight drain or what it was. Spence picked it up and got in control and finished up real well, and stopped him and hurt him,” said Garcia.

Spence, 27, didn’t start to look good until the 8th round, which is when Brook suffered his left eye injury. It’s unknown whether Spence started doing well after the eye was injured or before it was in round 8. Spence took over the fight during the 8th. It’s unfortunate that Brook suffered the injury. A lot of boxing fans are under the belief that Spence only took command of the fight after Brook got hurt.

Brook was tired as well. That could have been from Spence’s body shots or because of his struggles to take weight off to get down to the 147 pound limit. It’s good that Brook is moving up to 154. If Brook loses to anyone in the junior middleweight division without suffering another eye injury, it would mean that he fought a better fighter than himself. Brook will have to admit that he was beaten by a better fighter than himself if he gets beaten at 154 and doesn’t suffer another eye injury.

”He completely took over and made a big name for himself,” said Mikey about Spence taking over Brook fight at the midpoint of the fight. ”It was a huge performance and a huge victory for Errol Spence. I think he proved enough to be considered top number 1 or number 2 in the division. If it’s not him, it’s Keith Thurman. If it’s not Keith Thurman, it’s him number 1. Either one, these are the top 2 guys right now. Thurman has been there a little bit longer. Now he’s the unified champion. As far as skills go, I think Spence has a little better skills and technique than he does,” said Mikey.

Spence is ready for the Thurman fight right now, but it’s not up to him. It’s up to Thurman and his manager Al Haymon. There’s money to be made for both fighters before they face each other. Thurman has options for rematches against Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia. Thurman probably won’t be able to take both of them back to back. He’s going to need to fight someone else. Garcia is the better fight for Thurman, because it would attract more attention from the boxing public. It would also be a winnable fight for Thurman. Garcia was getting beaten to the punch in the first 6 rounds by Thurman.

”Manny Pacquiao is still there, and he’s been there for years,” said Mikey.” But I think these guys are younger and hungrier, and have much more to offer at this stage of their careers. I think Spence will be considered number 1 pretty soon. Spence had a great performance. If they do that fight right now, it brings in good numbers. But he doesn’t have to right now. He can take another fight or to,” said Mikey about Spence. “That will build up the Thurman fight even more. He’s in a very good position right now, because that Brook victory puts him in a very good spot right at the top of the division,” said Mikey.