Mike Garcia Would Fight Juanma at a Catch-Weight
By Luis Sandoval
Mikey Garcia is coming off a dominant victory over tough veteran Orlando Salido where he captured his first world title. Salido was supposed to be a true test for Garcia but he made it look easy as he put Salido down a total of four times in route to a technical decision after a clash of heads broke Garcia’s nose.
Garcia is now fully recovered and ready to take on his next challenge. BoxingScene caught up with Mikey and asked him about potential future opponents.
“We’re open to fight anybody. I want to stay at the Featherweight division and unify the titles. If we can’t get certain fights or unifications then we’ll just keep defending the title. Eventually we’ll probably have to move up in weight but for right now I want to stay at Featherweight” Garcia would tell BoxingScene.
A fight that could be made is with former champion Juan Manuel Lopez who recently made his return to the ring after being suspended for almost a year. Lopez had told BoxingScene’s official radio show “The Boxing Lab” that he’d be willing to fight Garcia but at a catch weight of 128 pounds as making 126 was no longer possible for him.
While Garcia mentioned wanting to stay at Featherweight, he said he’d be willing to fight Juan Ma at a catch weight as he shared his thoughts on a possible fight with him.
“With JuanMa, he was a champion and he just had his comeback fight and he won. If he wants to do one more fight before that because I think he said he wants to do one more fight before anything big – so I’m willing to fight him. I don’t’ really care. [Fighting him at 128] is no problem. He’s the same fighter at 126 or 130 it doesn’t matter. He’ll be the same fighter. It’s just up to the management and promotion to decide” said Garcia.
Both men are under the same promotional umbrella of Top Rank so the fight should be easy enough to make. Lopez expects to take one more tune up fight before pursuing a big name fight and Garcia would definitely be an option.