Kellerman: Garcia has real chances against Spence

Max Kellerman breaks down his thoughts on Spence-Garcia.

In this video interview captured by Fight Hype, boxing commentator Max Kellerman gives his take on why he thinks Mikey Garcia has a chance to beat Spence — if he can carry his power to 147lbs..

“Look, Spence is correctly the favorite in my view. Because Spence is a young, athletic fighter who has skills, is very tough — you’ve seen him in fights already where it’s like ‘well, that’s not exactly going his way.’ Kell Brook was doing some things...and he did not get discouraged. And he can punch. Again, it’s a rare combination — the athletic fighter who can punch, and has some skills, and is tough and is willing to use those skills aggressively.

“A lot of times fighters can hide behind — if they have a big athletic advantage — they can hide behind that and minimize risks to just, why not, play it safe. When you see a guy who’s like ‘No, no. I can punch, I’m fast — I’m gonna get this thing over with’ it connects with the fans differently.

“Spence is the real deal. That’s why the real fight everyone wants to see in and around that weight class is [Terence] Crawford, who you know is the real deal, and Spence. Right? Because Spence has a little natural size advantage to offset some of Crawford’s skills advantage, really. That’s the fight everyone wants to see. In the meantime, again, because of the way boxing is structured, we get the fight that we didn’t ask for, but the fight that we’re getting we’re not mad at.

“Mikey is a brave guy. And a very confident guy. He believes in his skills. He fights dispassionately, it’s not like with a sense of urgency or anything. He’s like the late, great Emanuel Steward used to talk about Trinidad this way — Killer Robot. He programs what he has to do and just executes the plan and the other guy is flat on his back. Even at welterweight where the power isn’t the same — it’s not like one punch concussive power — you have to respect his power. He’s not just clinical, he’s clinical with some pop.

“So it’s not out of the question that Mikey can beat Errol Spence, he is the more skillful fighter. He’s not as fast, he’s not as big a puncher or as big, period. But he has had more time as a pro to refine his skill. So he has real chances in that fight and hats off to him for making it.

“I think it’s important that Mikey can still pop at welterweight. I just mentioned, I know, he can still pop — but we seen him punch enough to kinda get someone’s respect. But at the top level at 147, can he hit hard enough to actually break a guy down? Because Spence seems to me to be the kind of guy where if he’s losing a fight, he’s gonna step on the gas. He seems to have that kind of mentality. So at that point it’s not enough to just continue to box, you have to put something on him that can really break him down. And that’s what this fight will boil down to.

“Can Mikey carry the power up to 147 a little better than we’ve seen? It’s not that we haven’t seen him do it at all, but a little more resemble the fighter in the lighter weight classes that we’ve seen. If the answer’s yes, he can win the fight.”