Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence and Mikey Garcia were both on weight on Friday at their weigh-in for Saturday’s fight on PBS on Fox PPV in Arlington, Texas. Mikey was first on the scale in weighing in at 145.5 pounds, and not looking overly muscular like some boxing fans thought he would.
The way Mikey looked, one can tell that he’s not going to put too much more weight on overnight after he rehydrates for the fight. Garcia is expected to be from 152-155 lbs when he steps inside the ring on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Garcia looked a little chunky, and not all together firm like one would expect from someone that has been hitting the weights hard trying to increase muscle mass. Spence came in at 146.25 lbs He looked thin, but painfully so. Spence will put on at least 14 to 16 lbs of water weight overnight, and step into the ring in the low 160s on Saturday night. Some boxing fans believe Spence rehydrates into the low 170s for his fights, but he doesn’t look like he puts that kind of weight on after rehydrates. In this case, the 160s is still going to make Spence a nightmare for Mikey to deal with inside the ring.
Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) will have his IBF welterweight title on the line when he defends against the unbeaten former four division world champion Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs). Although Spence has been saying this is his toughest fight of his seven year pro career, one would have a hard time believing that. Former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook would seem like the toughest opponent of Spence’s career. Brook gave Spence a lot of problems for the first six rounds before suffering an eye injury and needing to bow out in the 11th round in their fight in May 2017. Brook had a lot of size and power in that fight that Mikey won’t have going for him on Saturday.
This is a risky move for Mikey, because he could get hurt in moving up two weight classes to fight the bigger, stronger and more powerful Spence. Garcia and his trainer Robert Garcia are doing a good job of giving off confidence to get into the head of Spence, but that’s not likely going to change anything. Spence won’t stop throwing punches because of the low level psych job that Mikey and Robert Garcia are trying to do. If anything, Spence will throw more punches and be even more determined to score a knockout. Certainly from listening to Spence talk after the weigh-in, he seemed very keyed up, and angry-sounding when he chillingly said, ‘The fans can’t fight for him.’
The undercard weights are as follows:
David Benavidez 167 vs. J’Leon Love 168.25
Luis Nery 118 vs McJoe Arroyo 117
Chris Arreola 239.25 vs Jean Pierre Augustin 226
Charles Martin 254.6 vs Gregory Corbin 263.2
Jose Valenzuela 132 vs Christian Velez 134.4
Lindolfo Delgado 140 vs James Roach 136.4
Marsellos Wilder 195 vs Mark Sanchez 198
Fernando Garcia 123.3 vs Marlon Olea 121.6
Amon Rashidi 143 vs Gabriel Gutierrez 141
Jose Rodriguez 109.2 vs Rauf Aghaev 110.4
Thomas Hill 153 vs Limberth Ponce 155
