Following his shutout loss to Errol Spence on Saturday night, Mikey Garcia took to the post-fight press conference to share some of his thoughts on how the fight played out while also taking some media questions. Check out some excerpts below with the full video above...
Garcia on his view of the fight:
“I fought hard. I tried to make history, I tried to move up in weight and I thought I was gonna be able to pull it off and unfortunately it wasn’t my way. You know, I gotta give credit to Errol. He had a great game plan, he used that jab, that distance. He knew how to control that very well. Few moments I tried to make adjustments he had something in return. So he showed great boxing.
“I tried to do everything I could to make my adjustments but, you know, just couldn’t get it off. But I’m still very, very happy with the performance, I tried my best, and we worked hard for this — I really wanted to win it — and just couldn’t pull it off. Overall it was a great experience, great show, Errol Spence is a terrific champion, you know, the best in the welterweight division, very strong. And I’m just very happy that we were able to put this fight together, this is what boxing needs — you know, two of the best pound-for-pound fighters fighting each other and that doesn’t come often...”
On if he sees himself fighting other top welterweights after this outing:
“Well I’ll go back right now, talk to my dad, my brother, and make a decision. Right now I don’t have a decision made yet. I feel that there are other names that I could possibly get a title from, and I could still pull it off, but it wasn’t possible tonight. We fought the best welterweight, you know, the baddest man in that division and we just couldn’t pull it off. But we’ll go back and see what options we have. I could stay at a lower weight class maybe or maybe stay [at welterweight] and go after a different title...
“I showed a lot of heart and a lot of people now respect me a lot more for the way I fought and for going up against the best and honestly, like I said, I tried and fought well, I fought hard. At one my point my brother mentioned maybe it’s time to call it a night, he doesn’t want to see my get hurt, and my dad also, but I wasn’t hurt at any point like that. I got hit — it’s boxing — I got hit with a couple shots, that’s the way it is, but I said ‘no, no, no, let me continue.’..I felt like I probably still could [pull it off]. I felt like I could have one punch to maybe turn it around. Unfortunately it didn’t go that way.”
On his feelings about a potential fight against Vasyl Lomachenko:
“I would love a fight with Lomachenko but I haven’t made a decision to come down to 135 just yet. I don’t know what I’ma do. Let me sit back with my brother later, and my dad, and we’ll figure out what division I’ma come down...but at ‘35 that is the most interesting fight with Lomachenko and I would love to take on that fight.”
On if he was surprised by Spence’s power:
“Look, he’s got power. He does have power. I felt like I was blocking a lot of the shots early on and I was trying to give him trouble by not landing shots, but then he started picking up the pace a lot more and it was hard for me to keep up that defense so shots started coming through. Like I said, at no one point did he hurt me and stun me like that, but he does have power. I felt good, though. I felt strong also. I felt like I could also hurt him possibly but it just wasn’t there. He was slick and he avoided getting hit and by the time I would try to come back he had more punches on top...he put up a very good fight.”
On Spence boxing him and not just using his size advantage:
“I wasn’t surprised. I know he has all the skills. Like I said before, he reminds me of myself a lot, you know, because he does everything very well. Very good footwork, good speed, distance, timing — he does it very well. And he had an answer to every adjustment that I tried to do. When I tried to put a little pressure and walked forward, he took baby steps back, kept that distance, kept that jab out there, and it was working for him. He used his distance and reach very effective.
“And when I was trying to box on the outside he knew how far to walk forward. He didn’t get too close — you know, he’s very good. He reminds me of me, and he pulled off a great game plan and he had answers for everything that I tried to do...It’s not that I was surprised, I knew he was gonna be able to do this, and he pulled it off very well.”
On his thought process behind taking on this challenging fight in the first place:
“Look, in order to leave a lasting impression, you know, cement your name, you gotta go after the biggest challenges, the biggest fights. You know, if I wanna protect the record and just fight contenders just to make a quick paycheck and keep moving on and racking up wins, that’s not gonna be something to be remembered. I don’t want that, that’s not something that I wanted. I made it a goal of mine after my return to fight the biggest fights, the biggest challenges, so that people can appreciate who I am as a fighter. And that’s why I took on this fight. I wanted to establish that legacy, I was trying to be great, and I think that’s what a real champion needs to be doing.”
On Garcia saying that he saw something in Spence that led him to believe he could win and if it was difference once he was in the ring with him:
“It’s not that I saw something in his game plan or holes in his game or anything like that. I just felt that I was better than him in everything that he did. And I tried to make the adjustments and I tried to work the way that I believed that I could — but he had an answer...He showed me that he’s a better fighter keeping that distance, I thought I was gonna be able to maybe get on the inside at times. Then I tried to box on the outside a couple times, maybe counter. I landed one or two counters on him but it wasn’t enough. He kept coming, and at his distance...”