Historic showdown from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas—the home of the Dallas Cowboys—will feature former Super Middleweight World Champion David Benavidez taking on veteran contender J'Leon Love, and undefeated former Bantamweight Champion Luis Nery and heavyweight fan favorite Chris Arreola appearing in separate bouts. ARLINGTON, Texas — Unbeaten IBF Welterweight World Champion Errol "The Truth" Spence Jr. defends his title against undefeated four-division champion Mikey Garcia in a highly anticipated and historic showdown for pound-for-pound supremacy that headlines a Premier Boxing Champions on FOX Sports Pay-Per-View event on Saturday, March 16 from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The four-fight pay-per-view card will also see unbeaten former super middleweight world champion David Benavidez taking on veteran contender J'Leon Love in a 10-round showdown, undefeated former 118-pound champion Luis Nery battling former champion McJoe Arroyo in a 10-round attraction and fan-favorite Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola facing unbeaten Jean Pierre Augustin for 10-rounds of action. Tickets for this showdown, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and Ringstar Sports, are on sale now, and can be purchased at SeatGeek.com, the Official Ticketing Provider of AT&T Stadium. Spence and Garcia will go face-to-face on Saturday, February 16 at a press conference in Los Angeles that will air live on FOX from the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT. The press conference is open to ticket holders for the Leo Santa Cruz vs. Rafael Rivera featherweight championship fight. On Tuesday, February 19, Spence and Garcia will square off at a press conference from AT&T Stadium where they will finally go toe-to-toe on March 16. Garcia is stepping up two weight classes from his last fight to challenge Spence for the welterweight title in Spence's backyard, not far from the Dallas suburb of DeSoto where Spence grew up a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan. Garcia will be fighting in Texas for the ninth time as a pro and figures to be buoyed by the large contingent of Mexican and Mexican-American fans that will be in attendance. His task has historical parallels to the paths taken by great fighters like Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao, who all moved up multiple weight classes to challenge all-time great welterweights. Mosley and Pacquiao were both successful in moving up from lightweight to defeat Oscar De La Hoya, while Marquez's rise to welterweight was halted in a decision loss to Floyd Mayweather. Spence is a power-punching welterweight who has stopped his last 11 opponents heading into this intriguing matchup against the brilliant tactician that Garcia has established himself as. With a clash of two superb boxers in the prime of their careers and squarely in the top-five of the mythical pound-for-pound rankings, the winner can stake a claim as the best boxer in the sport today. "Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia is a matchup of two highly-skilled and accomplished fighters in a true blockbuster showdown," said Tom Brown, President of TGB Promotions. "Fans will get to see the hometown hero Spence against the Mexican-American superstar Garcia with huge contingents of fans uplifting them to put on a performance to match the moment. Combined with a jam-packed pay-per-view undercard of action fights, this has all the makings of a once-in-a-lifetime event." "Spence vs. Garcia is an event that transcends boxing and is a coronation that will crown the new 'King of Boxing,'" said Richard Schaefer, Chairman and CEO of Ringstar Sports. "In addition to the main event, fight fans will be treated to a spectacular night of boxing featuring three of the most exciting Mexican fighters in the sport in David Benavidez, Luis Nery and Chris Arreola. This is exactly what a pay-per-view card is and should be all about: entertainment and non-stop action from the first bell to the last!" "We are proud to host a boxing match of this magnitude with Errol Spence Jr. and Mikey Garcia," said Dallas Cowboys Owner, President and General Manager Jerry Jones. "AT&T Stadium was built to house the greatest sporting events on the planet, and we feel we have another incredible boxing event on the horizon with this matchup in our building on March 16." “ AT&T Stadium was built to house the greatest sporting events on the planet, and we feel we have another incredible boxing event on the horizon with this matchup in our building on March 16. ” Dallas Cowboys Owner — Jerry Jones Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) is no stranger to big stadium events as he won the IBF title by traveling to England to take on then-champion Kell Brook at Bramhall Lane soccer stadium on May 27, 2017. In front of a raucous crowd of over 27,000 loyal Brook supporters, the 28-year-old Spence stopped Brook in round 11 to wrest away the title. This will be Spence's third defense of the title. After beating Brook, he successfully defended it with an eighth-round stoppage of two-division champion Lamont Peterson and then knocked out mandatory challenger Carlos Ocampo in the first round in his last fight at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, near his hometown of Desoto, Texas on June 16. Spence turned pro shortly after representing the U.S. at the 2012 London Olympics with much promise and rose to the championship ranks with wins over former champion Chris Algieri and veteran contenders Leonard Bundu, Alejandro Barrera and Chris van Heerden. "I can't wait for March 16th. It doesn't get bigger than this," said Spence. "Fighting at AT&T Stadium in my hometown is a dream come true. If I beat Mikey Garcia the way I plan on beating him, I will be the guy in the sport. This is my year and Mikey isn't going to stop me. I am training like this is the biggest fight of my life and I want to put on a great show for the fans and win convincingly." Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) is striving to put together a legendary career and is aggressively pursuing that goal. He has won world championships at featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight. He now eyes a welterweight title against the consensus class of the division in Spence. Fighting out of Moreno Valley, California, Garcia unified the IBF and WBC Lightweight World Championships in his last bout by scoring unanimous decision victory over Robert Easter, Jr. on July 28. The 31-year-old first reached the championship ranks by blitzing through the featherweight and junior lightweight division, defeating Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez, Roman Martinez and Juan Carlos Burgos to establish himself as a star in the sport. Garcia has been on a fast track since ending a nearly 2-1/2-year hiatus with a knockout victory over Elios Rojas in 2016. After the victory over Rojas, Garcia scored a KO victory over Dejan Zlaticanin for the WBC lightweight championship in January 2017, before defeating four-division champion Adrien Broner in July and then captured a title at 140-pounds by dropping and defeating Sergey Lipinets last March. "In my career I've always sought to fight the best in boxing and this fight against Errol Spence Jr. is just that,'' said Garcia. "I want to be known as one of the all-time greats and what better way to do that than to win a welterweight title and become a five-division world champion. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Errol and what he's accomplished, but I fully expect to leave the ring at AT&T Stadium with the welterweight world title. This is a match that I've been looking forward to for a long time and I plan on giving the fans a performance they'll never forget.'' The 22-year-old Benavidez (20-0, 17 KOs) became the youngest fighter to ever win a super middleweight title in 2017 when he defeated Ronald Gavril at just 20-years-old. Fighting out of Phoenix, Benavidez's older brother Jose is also a pro fighter who challenged Terrence Crawford last year. Benavidez most recently won a rematch against Gavril last February, and as WBC "Champion in Recess" he will look to reclaim his belt against the winner of the Anthony Dirrell vs. Avni Yildirim bout for the vacant title on February 23.<doc-sep>With March 16th just around the corner, welterweight titleholder Errol Spence Jr. and challenger Mikey Garcia start formally promoting their FOX pay-per-view card, starting with a press conference in Los Angeles. When asked about his thoughts on Mikey Garcia and what he expects his biggest challenges to be when they square-off, Spence said: “Well first of all, I’m happy somebody challenged me. I’ve been looking for a name-known opponent, somebody with a record like his — everything he’s established in boxing being a four division champion — so I’m happy that I took on that challenge. But I’m look for a skillful mikey garcia, he’s got good talent, a lot of great experience. And with me, I’ve got the pedigree. Even if I don’t have that experience I have the pedigree to overcome anything he brings to the table come March 16.” Mikey Garcia then offered his own thoughts on why he decided to jump up in weight for this stern challenge. “I’m looking for legacy, you know, I’m in search of greatness. You know, not many fighters get an opportunity to do what I’m doing — you know, fighting another undefeated champion in their prime. And that’s the kind of fight that excites me, that’s the kind of fight that motivates and that’s the type of fight I need to bring the best out of me. And that’s why we decided and chose to go after Errol Spence.” Check out the full press conference and face off above, courtesy of Fight Hub TV.<doc-sep>Premiere Boxing Champions has released the details for the March 16th pay-per-view headlined by Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia. In addition to the main event and the previously announced co-feature between David Benavidez and J’Leon Love, the four-fight card will see Luis Nery fight McJoe Arroyo and Chris Arreola continue his latest comeback attempt against Jean Pierre Augustin. Nery (28-0, 22 KO) signed with PBC late last month with the intention of challenging for the WBC bantamweight title he once held later this year. He’s picked up a pair of knockouts since coming in overweight against Shinsuke Yamanaka in their rematch last March. Arroyo (18-2, 8 KO), the lesser-known McBrother, has fought just once a year since 2015, most recently edging the unknown Sander Diaz in Colombia last July. He’d previously lost wide decisions to Jerwin Ancajas and Rau’Shee Warren after defeating Arthur Villanueva for the IBF super flyweight belt in 2015. Arroyo is a solid super flyweight, but going against a heavy-handed bantamweight who regularly struggles to make the 118-pound limit doesn’t sound like a recipe for success. Arreola (37-5-1, 32 KO) will turn 38 two weeks before fight night and has just one fight since 2016, an RTD stoppage of Maurenzo Smith on the Wilder-Fury undercard. Augustin (17-0-1, 12 KO), a Haitian fighting out of Louisville, hasn’t fought since stopping Humberto Soto (no relation) in 2017.<doc-sep>
With a month to go until the show, Premier Boxing Champions unveiled the undercard for the Errol Spence-Mikey Garcia pay-per-view card on Thursday, and it will feature three former world titleholders and a well-known former heavyweight contender. Former super middleweight world titlist David Benavidez will face J'Leon Love in the 10-round co-feature of the card that will take place on March 16 (Fox PPV) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Also on the pay-per-view, former bantamweight world titlist Luis Nery will face former junior bantamweight world titlist McJoe Arroyo in a 10-round fight and Chris Arreola, the faded former heavyweight world title challenger, will face Jean Pierre Augustin in a 10-round bout. Benavidez (20-0, 17 KOs), 22, of Phoenix, will be fighting for the first time in a rocky 13 months that saw him get stripped of his world title and suspended for testing positive for cocaine in a random urine test conducted the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association as part of the WBC Clean Boxing Program on Aug. 27. After a 13-month absence, former super middleweight world titlist David Benavidez gets back in the ring March 16 against J'Leon Love. Alex Goodlett/Getty Images Benavidez also signed a promotional contract extension with Sampson Lewkowicz but then signed another promotional contract with Top Rank and took a $250,000 signing bonus in May in an attempt to walk out on his contract with Lewkowicz. Days later, Benavidez gave the money back to Top Rank, apologized and returned to Lewkowicz. Love (24-2-1, 13 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, will look to rebound from a lopsided decision loss to former middleweight titlist Peter Quillin in August. Nery (28-0, 22 KOs), 24, of Mexico, who has won nine fights in a row by knockout, was stripped of his world title last March on the eve of his rematch with former titlist Shinsuke Yamanaka because he failed to make weight. He knocked out Yamanaka in the second round. He returned in October and has won both of his fights since. But he will be taking on a far superior caliber of opponent on Arroyo than in his recent fights. Arroyo (18-2, 8 KOs), 33, a southpaw from Puerto Rico, won a vacant junior bantamweight title against Artur Villanueva in 2015 but then lost two fight in a row, dropping the belt to Jerwin Ancajas and also losing to former titlist Rau'shee Warren before rebounding for a win in June. Arreola (37-5-1, 32 KOs), 37, of Riverside, California, has fought for a heavyweight world title three times but got knocked out each times, by Vitali Klitschko in 2009, by Bermane Stiverne in their 2014 rematch and by Deontay Wilder in 2016. After a nearly 2½-year retirement, Arreola returned for a sixth-round knockout win over Maurenzo Smith on Dec. 1 on the Wilder-Tyson Fury card. Augustin (17-0-1, 12 KOs), 31, a Haiti native fighting out of Louisville, Kentucky, will fighting the first notable foe of his career. Spence and Garcia will meet face to face at a news conference on Saturday at the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. It will air live on Fox beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET, ahead of that night's PBC on Fox card at the venue featuring featherweight world titlist Leo Santa Cruz's defense against Rafael Rivera. The main event features Spence's third welterweight world title defense against lightweight titlist Garcia, a four-division titleholder who is moving up two weight classes for the showdown. Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs), 31, of Moreno Valley, California, is facing the southpaw Spence (24-0, 21 KOs), 29, of DeSoto, Texas, in his home region and undaunted by his underdog status. "In my career I've always sought to fight the best in boxing and this fight against Errol Spence Jr. is just that,'' said Garcia, who will be fighting for the first time since unifying two lightweight belts by clear decision against Robert Easter Jr. in July. "I want to be known as one of the all-time greats and what better way to do that than to win a welterweight title and become a five-division world champion. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Errol and what he's accomplished, but I fully expect to leave the ring at AT&T Stadium with the welterweight world title. "This is a match that I've been looking forward to for a long time and I plan on giving the fans a performance they'll never forget."