Well, Errol Spence Jr. isn’t taking a tune-up fight following his horrific car accident this past October.
Spence will defend his welterweight title this fall against former two-division beltholder Danny Garcia, the fighter he was expected to face in January, according to The Athletic. The original date became moot after the single-car crash in Dallas.
The fight this fall would be televised on Fox Pay-Per-View. No specific date or site was mentioned.
Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) has said he’s fully recovered and back in training, which is miraculous given the severity of the crash. The only thing he hasn’t been able to do is spar as a result of losing teeth in the accident.
Spence is coming off a sensational split-decision victory over Shawn Porter in September.
“I have no restrictions in my training except sparring,” Spence said on the “All The Smoke” podcast, which is available on Showtime Sports’ YouTube channel. “I can’t spar yet because I got my teeth knocked out. And they put two posts in my mouth, well, three posts in my mouth. And I’m waiting on them to heal.
“And once they heal, then I’ll get my permanent teeth. And then I’ll be able to spar.”
He added: “In all actuality, this pandemic has really been helping me out a lot, yeah, basically [with] recovery and just taking my time to get back. But I’m already back. I’m 100 percent. I went to a facility in Cleveland, where they checked me out, checked my brain, gave me MRIs and things like that, and everything went well.
“So everything’s been going good. I think I’m 100 percent healthy and in shape.”
Spence obviously has respect for Garcia, who has held titles at both junior welterweight and welterweight.
“Danny Garcia, he’s a very tough fighter,” he said on the Premier Boxing Champions Instagram account. “He’s a guy that’s accomplished a lot in the sport of boxing. And that’s a fight that really makes sense … it’s a fight that can definitely happen next.”
Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) hasn’t held a title since he lost his 147-pound belt to Keith Thurman by a split decision in March 2017. He then lost a close decision to Shawn Porter for a vacant title in September 2018. The 32-year-old Philadelphian has since beaten Adrian Granados and Ivan Redkach.
Garcia likes his chances against Spence.
“I feel it’s a great style for me,” Garcia said on The PBC Podcast. “Porter hit him a lot. I’ve seen things in the Mikey Garcia fight that I could definitely take advantage of and defeat him.”