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| Date | March 16, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | IBF welterweight title | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spence defeated Garcia by unanimous decision | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia was a professional boxing match contested on March 16, 2019, for the IBF welterweight championship. [1]
Since winning the IBF welterweight title against Kell Brook, Errol Spence Jr. has made two stoppage defences against Lamont Peterson and Carlos Ocampo. He was ranked by both Ring magazine and TBRB as the best welterweight in the world.
After successfully unifying the WBC and IBF lightweight titles in against Robert Easter Jr. July 2018, Mikey Garcia reiterated his desire to fight Spence Jr. by the end of 2018. Spence, who was sat ringside also admitted the fight was too big to turn down and would not be hard to make. [2] [3] [4]
In October 2018, it was reported that negotiations between Spence and Garcia were progressing, with the fight likely to take place in February 2019 on Showtime PPV. [5] On October 30, Garcia vacated his IBF lightweight title and the purse bid for the potential Richard Commey fight was cancelled. [6] On November 13, PBC made an official announcement that the fight between Spence and Garcia would take place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on March 16, 2019, to be broadcast by FOX PPV. [7] [8] [9] [10] This would be the first PPV headliner for both Spence and Garcia. Spence was a 1/4 favourite. [11]
Spence would completely outclass and dominate Garcia, using his superior reach to constantly land jabs to the head and body from a distance, landing 108 over the course of the fight. Garcia would try to close the distance, but with Spence's weight and height advantage, he was able to completely dominate Garcia even in the pocket. In rounds 8 and 9, Spence landed over 100 punches in two rounds, constantly using lead hooks and uppercuts on the increasing backing up Garcia. Despite being dominated Garcia would show heart and made it to the final bell. All three judges would score every round for Spence with one giving the 11th as a 10–8 round, with scorecards reading 120–107, 120–108 and 120–108. [12] [13] [14]
After the fight, Spence was joined in the ring by eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao. Both stated that they would love to fight each other next. [15] [16] [17] Garcia would express no regrets for taking the fight with Spence saying "In order to leave a lasting impression, to cement your name, you have to go after the biggest challenges and the biggest fights, if I want to protect the record and just fight contenders, make a quick paycheck and keep racking up wins, that's not going to be something to be remembered. I don't want that. I made it a goal to fight the biggest fights and take the biggest challenges so that people can appreciate who I am as a fighter, and that's why I took on this fight. I wanted to establish that legacy. I was trying to be great. That's what a world champion needs to be doing, giving the greatest fights available." [18]
A crowd of 47,525 attended the event, generating a live gate of $5 million. According to ESPN, FOX's first PPV sold over 360,000 buys, possibly up to 380,000 buys, generating a minimum $27 million domestically. It was considered a success considering PBC's recent PPV's and the fact it was a PPV debut for both boxers. [19] Garcia and Spence had a base purse of $3 million, up to $8 million based on PPV sales. [20]
Confirmed bouts: [21] [22] [23]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 José Valenzuela |  Christian Velez | Lightweight (4 rounds) | 4th round KO |
| PPV bouts | |||
| David Benavidez | J'Leon Love | Super middleweight (10 rounds) | 2nd round KO |
 Lindolfo Delgado | James Roach | Light Welterweight (6 rounds) | 1st round KO |
| Luis Nery | McJoe Arroyo | Bantamweight (10 rounds) | 4th round RTD |
| Chris Arreola | Jean-Pierre Augustin | Heavyweight (10 rounds) | 3rd round TKO |
| Preliminary bouts | |||
| Charles Martin | Gregory Corbin | Heavyweight (10 rounds) | 8th round DQ |
| Fernando Garcia |  Marlon Olea | Super Bantamweight (8 rounds) | 5th round KO |
| Amon Rashidi | Gabriel Gutierrez | Light Welterweight (6 rounds) | 6th round TKO |
| Marsellos Wilder | Mark Sanchez | Cruiserweight (4 rounds) | No contest |
| Jesse Rodriguez |  Rauf Aghayev | Flyweight (8 rounds) | 3rd round TKO |
| Thomas Hill | Limberth Ponce | Light Middleweight (6 rounds) | Split decision |
| Aaron Morales | Fernando Robles | Bantamweight (6 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Adrian Taylor | William Deets | Cruiserweight (4 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Luis Coria | Omar Garcia | Lightweight (6 rounds) | 2nd round TKO |
| Burley Brooks | Randy Mast | Super middleweight (4 rounds) | 1st round TKO |
| Robert Rodriguez | Fernando Ibarra De Anda | Super Flyweight (4 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Panama | Telemetro |
 United Kingdom | ITV |
| United States | FOX Sports |