GARCIA GOES LARGE

Fifth belt a big ask

MIKEY GARCIA faces a sizeable task in toppling Errol Spence Jnr for the IBF welterweight title this weekend.

That’s because four-weight world champion Garcia is going up to his fifth weight class to take on a natural 10st 7lb fighter in IBF champion Spence.

The unbeaten American started out as a featherweight, where he won his first world title, before moving up to super-feather, lightweight and even had a stint as light-welterweight ruler.

But this is a totally different challenge ahead of him at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, the AT&T Stadium, early tomorrow morning.

Garcia stands more than three inches below his fellow unbeaten foe and will have a disadvantage on the reach front of around four inches.

Texan Spence Jnr, who beat Kell Brook to claim the IBF title in May 2017, will walk to the ring just over a stone heavier than Garcia.

Both men cannot weigh-in more than 10lbs over the 10st 7lb welterweight limit on the morning of the fight.

Calibre

But Spence Jnr can pile on as much as he likes afterwards and will fill out considerably compared to Garcia, who expects to be 10st

10lb on fight night.

That wouldn’t necessarily be an issue for a fighter of Garcia’s calibre but, in his 40th fight, he will face one of the very best welterweights on the planet.

Spence Jnr showed that by how he ruthlessly finished off Brook in the

11th round at Bramall Lane almost two years ago.

But Garcia has never shirked a challenge and he has sought help in bulking up from Victor Conte, the man behind BALCO, the lab exposed in 2003 for involvement in top athletes using performanceenhancing drugs.

He has also sought the help of former sprint coach Remi Korchemny, who is serving a lifetime ban from USA Track and Field for “conspiracy and cover up”.

Conte argues he is helping to clean up the sport by insisting on

Voluntary Anti-Doping Association drug testing for any fights the boxers he works with are involved in as he looks to change his public image.

Garcia is in no doubt the work he has done in the gym is clean, too. The real test will occur in the ring in Dallas.

If he can pull off an unexpected win, then it would be a huge victory in more ways than one.