By Keith Idec

DALLAS – Maybe Mikey Garcia and Errol Spence Jr. won’t be as far apart in weight late Saturday night as most everyone expects.

Garcia weighed 152 pounds Saturday morning at the IBF’s second-day weigh-in, just three-plus pounds less than Spence, who weighed 155.5 pounds. The IBF’s rule for title fights it sanctions prohibits champions and challengers from adding more than 10 pounds above the weight limit for a given division.

Neither Spence nor Garcia were allowed to weigh more than 157 pounds Saturday morning.

The 31-year-old Garcia officially weighed in at a career-high 145½ pounds when he stepped on the Texas boxing commission’s scale Friday afternoon at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. The 29-year-old Spence stepped on the scale Friday at 146¼ pounds.

Most fans, experts and industry insiders expect Spence to out-weigh Garcia by as much as 15 pounds once the bell rings late Saturday night for their FOX Sports Pay-Per-View main event at AT&T Stadium. The strong southpaw also owns a four-inch height advantage and a sizeable reach edge over Garcia.

The 5-feet-10 Spence predicted during a press conference Wednesday that he would weigh 160 pounds once their 12-round, 147-pound title bout begins. The 5-feet-6 Garcia estimated he would weigh 150 pounds, which he exceeded Saturday morning.

Spence usually walks around between bouts at approximately 170 pounds, roughly 20 pounds more than Garcia. Before Friday, Garcia had not officially weighed more than 139½ pounds for any of his first 39 professional fights.

The four-division champion technically will move up from the lightweight limit of 135 pounds to the welterweight maximum of 147 to challenge Spence in a battle between two of the top boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport.

Garcia defeated previously unbeaten Robert Easter Jr. by 12-round unanimous decision in his last appearance – a 135-pound title unification fight July 28 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ambitious Garcia had moved down from 140 pounds to 135 to beat Easter.

In his prior fight, Garcia dropped then-unbeaten Sergey Lipinets in the seventh round and won a 12-round unanimous decision to win the IBF junior welterweight title last March 10 in San Antonio. Garcia weighed in at 139½ pounds for each of his two 140-pound bouts – points wins over Adrien Broner and Lipinets.

Spence’s size advantage is the primary reason most Internet & Las Vegas sports books list Spence as a 4-1 favorite over Garcia, who has won world titles at 126, 130, 135 and 140 pounds.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.