Errol Spence Jr. may have only been at half strength against Danny Garcia, according to his trainer.
Derrick James, the longtime mentor of the unified welterweight titlist (IBF, WBC) from Desoto, Texas, made the surprising point in a recent interview in light of Spence’s scheduled 12-round 147-pound title unification bout against WBA titlist Yordenis Ugas April 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
James was prompted to talk about his charge’s less than ideal state in a bout that Spence won in resounding fashion via unanimous decision in December of 2020 because Spence admitted in another interview that “I wasn’t right at all against Danny. Maybe 80, 75%. I could write a book about my training camp. A lot happened for that fight.”
“I think it was less than that,” James told Brian Custer on The Last Stand Podcast. “I think he could’ve been about 40, 50 percent. That’s what I believe, in fighting Danny Garcia. Great strategy, great game plan, great fight, he implemented everything that he needed to do.”
Spence, of course, was coming off a potentially life-threatening car accident the year before. Yet it did not appear to have impacted his performance. Instead of requesting an easier opponent for his comeback bout, Spence demanded to fight a top-tier opponent in Garcia, a former two-division world champion from Philadelphia. Spence’s performance in that fight, a methodical breakdown of an elite counter-puncher, answered a lot of skepticism regarding his physical recovery, and seemed like solid proof that he had not missed a beat, despite the layoff and his injuries.
Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) will once again have to answer questions about his health, this time regarding the condition of his eye. Spence suffered a retinal tear in his left eye weeks before his scheduled fight with Manny Pacquiao last August. Cuba’s Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) ended up replacing Spence on short notice and would go on to beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision.
James stressed that Spence was in optimal condition this time around, while refusing to share any details of what went on ahead of the Garcia bout.
“In this fight everything is great,” James said of Spence. “His conditioning and all the other things are great. The Garcia fight, you know, there was some stuff down the line, but he’s good though. He’s good. Nothing to talk about.
James hinted that he might open up about what happened in training camp for the Garcia bout someday far in the future.
“It’ll be in my book, but we can’t talk about it,” he said.
By Sean Nam