By: Hans Themistode
Former two division world champion Danny Garcia isn’t a fan of making excuses.
He didn’t try to justify his lackluster performance in a win against Mauricio Herrera in 2014. He also took losses against Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter square on the chin and didn’t make any excuses for coming up short.
So now that the Philadelphia native is set to take on Errol Spence Jr following his horrific car accident, he doesn’t want Spence, nor any of his fans to make any excuses should he come out on the short end of the stick.
“If you ain’t ready, don’t get in the ring. You know?” Said Garcia on the Ak and Barak show. “That’s just that simple. You know, I know they say Manny’s older now, but he’s coming off a big win. So, if he’s old, don’t get in the ring. If Spence ain’t better, don’t get in the ring. “I don’t wanna hear no excuses. I never made no excuses.”
Garcia may not see an issue with fighting Spence during his first fight back, but current WBO Welterweight champion Terence Crawford would hear none of it. A Crawford vs Spence showdown has been on the minds of boxing fans for quite some time now. But with Spence escaping tragedy in a horrific car accident, he now becomes a question mark. So much so, that if Crawford was presented with a contract to take him on next, he would crumple it up and throw it in the trash.
“I told him ‘Don’t come back trying to fight me because that ain’t the fight you really want on your first fight to come back.” Said Crawford to Chris Mannix a few months ago. “I wouldn’t even take that fight if it was offered to me because it’s a lose-lose situation for me.”
Crawford has become accustomed to criticism. His resume has been picked apart and his level of opposition has been ridiculed for much of his career. So it comes as no surprise that he isn’t willing to give his critics something else to talk about.
“If something was to happen and I knocked him out or beat him up bad, they (media and fans) would say ‘He’s not the same Errol Spence. He’s coming off a car accident,’ and that would never end for my whole career. I just want to see him at the old Errol Spence that he used to be. Then me and him are going to fight.”
While Crawford is looking to avoid giving more fuel to his naysayers, Garcia on the other hand, isn’t worried about it.
“Not at all because if you ain’t a hundred percent, don’t get in the ring.”
