ERROL SPENCE JR marked his return to the ring with a dominant points victory against Danny Garcia to preserve his welterweight crown.
The Texan fought for the first time since his life-threatening car crash last October and did so in front of a limited home crowd in Arlington.
And he proved to have no ring rust as he controlled the action throughout to retain his WBC and IBF titles and move to 27-0.
After the win, Spence, 30, said: “The moment is surreal.
“It has been a dream of mine since coming back from my accident and I think I looked pretty good.
I had a little ring rust in there but I shook off the cobwebs and I would love to be back in the summer.
“All training camp I felt good. I knew I was going to be good and that’s why I told people I don’t want a tune-up fight.
“I wanted someone like Danny Garcia who would push me.”
In the opening stages, Spence established early dominance as he walked Garcia down with a solid jab.
The champion also profited from investing in the body early, as he slowed down the challenger with hooks downstairs.
Garcia – sitting on the back foot waiting to counter punch – was accurate when he responded, but was not busy enough.
The first half of the fight was decided with Spence’s educated pressure, with his jab, short left hand and body shots raking up the rounds.
Going into the sixth, Garcia’s eye was beginning to bruise, thanks to the non-stop work rate of the champion.
When the two came in close, Spence completely outworked Garcia, throwing in big numbers, overwhelming his opponent.
In round eight, Garcia came out more aggressive, but struggled to put a dent in the hometown hero.
Spence would end the round on top, walking his man down with a high guard, letting his hands go in close.
In the ninth, Garcia landed an eye-catching short one-two, but it counted for little as he was out punched throughout the three-minute session.
The challenger kept up the work in round ten, scoring with a right to Spence’s head and body, who was caught momentarily off balance.
Garcia looked to be upping his product down the stretch, but after a hard right landed in round 11, Spence proved his champion mentality by firing back to the body.
In the 12th and final round, Spence finished on top, walking forward and pushing the pace of the fight.
As the last bell sounded, Garcia was convincingly beaten, but boxed competitively throughout.
With prior losses to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, it leaves the Philadelphia puncher with a rebuilding job ahead of him.
Garcia, 32, said: “He was just the better man tonight. No excuses.
“I fought a hard, tough fight. He had a difficult jab and I think that was the key to the fight.
“I didn’t have a great jab. He had a great jab and that was the difference in the fight. He landed it better than me.”
For Spence, he now eyes a unification showdown between either WBO king Terence Crawford or Manny Pacquiao, who owns the WBA belt.
But first, he will attend to the chickens and horses at his newly acquired ranch as he promised the best it yet to come from him.
Spence explained: “This was a comeback fight for me and I will definitely be 120 per cent in my next fight.
“I’m going to chill on my ranch. I just bought a ranch with a couple of horses and chickens, two cows and my children and family.
“I want to go and get more horses and chickens.
“I want to enjoy my time and decide who to come back against but right now I want my rest time.”
