'The Truth' is revealed to Mikey Garcia: Is Manny Pacquiao next?

Well, it wasn’t a “Man Down” per say, however, it sure was a beat down. 29-year-old welterweight kingpin Errol Spence pummeled lightweight titlist Mikey Garcia in the Premier Boxing Champions on Fox pay-per-view main event at AT&T Stadium.

Spence, a staple on the pound-for-pound list and current IBF welterweight champion, successfully retained his title in the third defense of his strap. Spence pounded out an extremely tough and gritty Garcia round-by round for the entire fight, en route to a shutout decision. Spence won by scores of 120-108 (twice), and 120-107.

Heading into the showdown with Garcia, Spence, now 25-0, (21) had scored 11 consecutive knockouts. How ironic was it that although Garcia got beat up, he still managed to finish the fight on his feet? Who would have thought that it would have been Garcia, a lightweight [135] to end the knockout streak?

Garcia attempted to do what so few have been able to do in the sport of boxing. He tried to win a fifth world title in as many weight classes. Garcia’s aspirations in the sport prompted him to move up two weight classes [135 to 147] to do so. This feat was accomplished by Henry Armstrong and MannyPacquiao.

The naturally bigger Spence opened up the contest by jabbing and forcing his significantly smaller opponent to fight off of his back leg. Garcia simply absorbed a lot of punishment, with an invisible work rate that saw him land a little over six punches per round.

“I give Mikey Garcia all the credit for taking this fight,” said Spence of nearby Desoto. “Mikey and I put on a great show in front of all these lovely fans. I respect him so much and I appreciate him for stepping up.”

Spence was bigger, stronger, and longer. His reach was evident when he would hit Garcia and easily get out of the way, while the short armed Garcia would swing and miss. At the conclusion Spence issued a challenge to the legend and future Hall-of-Famer Pacquiao.

The crowd of 47,525 present agreed with Garcia, welterweight isn’t for him. However, he was proud of the “moral victory” that he achieved.

“We just went 12 rounds with a great welterweight champion,” said the 31-year-old Garcia, a four division champion. “That’s a feat no one has done recently. I am proud of what I was able to do.”

While grateful in defeat, he also acknowledged that better days are to come.

“I will probably go back to lighter divisions, but we’ll have to think about it,” said Garcia, now 39-1, (30) while exhibiting a lot of swelling in his mandible area. “I really appreciate the love and support of the fans tonight. It’s a great night, and all credit to Errol. He’s a great champion. He’s ‘The Truth’. He executed his game plan well.”

Considering that both Spence and Pacquiao fight under the PBC banner, a fight between them is an easy one to make. The 40-year-old Pacquiao says that he is up for the challenge. Both Spence and Pacquiao are available to fight in July.

In his first fight back since serving a suspension for testing positive for cocaine, super middleweight David Benavidez obliterated J’Leon Love. Benavidez unleashed one of his signature 6-7 punch combinations which staggered Love, now 24-3-1, (13) prompted referee Laurent Cole to wave the fight off at the 1:14 mark of the second round.

With the victory Benavidez improved to 21-0, (19).

“I saw Anthony Dirrell with the WBC belt,” said Benavidez. “He can’t call himself champion until he fights me. “That’s my belt. I’m going to go get it. It’s mine.”

Bantamweight Luis Nery of Mexico obliterated McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico. Nery dropped Arroyo four times over the course of five rounds. The contest was stopped :10 into the fifth round. With the victory, Nery improved to 29-0, (22). Arroyo dropped to 18-3, (8).

Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola stopped Jean Pierre Augustin in three rounds. Arreola, now 38-5-1, (33) was awarded the TKO at the 2:03 mark. With the loss Augustin’s record dropped to 17-1-1, (12). Arreola, who resides in Riverside, California, scored the first victory for Los Angeles in the recently renewed L.A.-Boston rivalry. Augustin is from Boston.