DALLAS – Danny Garcia was more than willing to travel here to fight Errol Spence Jr. in Spence’s proverbial backyard.
Angel Garcia, his father and trainer, made sure, however, that none of the officials assigned to their welterweight title fight are from the state of Texas. BoxingScene.com has learned that the Texas Combative Sports Program has approved judges from three separate states, as well as an out-of-state referee, to officiate their 12-round, 147-pound championship match Saturday night at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Nevada’s Tim Cheatham, North Carolina’s Barry Lindenman and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld will judge their FOX Sports Pay-Per-View main event. Thomas Taylor, a respected referee from California, also will work the Spence-Garcia fight.
The 30-year-old Spence is a native of DeSoto, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The 32-year-old Garcia was born and raised in Philadelphia, and resides in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Cheatham and Weisfeld are experienced judges who’ve worked high-profile fights in various states. They also have been among the most active American judges in the sport during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spence-Garcia is by far the biggest assignment in Lindenman’s 21 years as a professional judge, though.
In his most recent world title fight, Lindenman scored Jean Pascal a 114-112 winner over Badou Jack. Nelson Vazquez also scored that 12-round WBA light heavyweight title fight 114-112 for Pascal, who won a split decision December 28 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Julie Lederman scored that fight 114-112 for Jack.
On Saturday night, Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) will defend his IBF and WBC welterweight titles against Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs), a former WBA/WBC junior welterweight and WBC welterweight champion. Their fight will headline a four-fight pay-per-view show that costs $74.99 to view in HD and is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. EST and 6 p.m. PST.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.