Errol Spence Jr., along with his Olympic boxing teammates, recorded victories last night at the Fantasy Springs Casino outside Palm Springs. Team USA should now be called team Haymon, five members of the team, who are all represented by the power house manager Al Haymon and working with Golden Boy Promotions, made their professional debuts on the “Night of the Olympians” card on Friday night. Errol Spence Jr. stood out to me as the most pro ready style along with Terrell Gausha, but it was Spence that never lost the pace of the fight, staying calm and poised throughout the match until it was ended.
22-year old 2012 Olympic welterweight Errol Spence (1-0, 1 KO) of Dallas, Texas put on the type of display of skills you want to see from a former Olympian, he took on 19-year old Jonathan Garcia (3-4, 1 KO), 149 of Aguada, Puerto Rico. Garcia was game in the first round and even had some success in landing a few of his shots. Garcia was coming up in weight nearly 14lbs to take this opportunity to upset an Olympic boxer, but the cards were stacked against him and Spence was to seasoned to allow his debut to be debunked.
The southpaw Spence found early success with some quickly placed lead hooks, but Garcia seemed unfazed by the power and kept coming forward with an aggressive approach and willingness to keep throwing punches. Spence, realizing the head hunt was not paying dividend, focused down stairs and kept an above average, consistent attack to the body of Garcia, slowing him down rapidly. The willingness of Garcia to come forward quickly changed to retreat after being on the receiving end of Spence body punches. In the third round, Spence landed a group of repeatedly placed left uppercuts, hurting and finally dropping Garcia. To most surprise, a game Garcia made it to his feet on shaky legs, but was stormed by Spence and referee Pat Russell who stopped the contest at 2:41 of round three.
Errol Spence Jr. is one of the fighters I’ll be watching to see his development in the sport and I recommend you do the same.
