Mikey Garcia makes anticipated return after long layoff

Mikey Garcia, left, hasn’t fought since a unanimous decision victory over Juan Carlos Burgos in January 2014. Chris Farina/Top Rank

Dan Rafael
ESPN Senior Writer

Mikey Garcia was near the top of boxing 2½ years ago. Entering his prime, he was making headway on most pound-for-pound lists, had won a world title in a second weight division, was an HBO headliner, and was on the verge of his first seven-figure purse.

Mikey Garcia-Elio Rojas
Where: Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
When: Saturday, 9 p.m. ET
TV: Showtime
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum even talked him up as a possible opponent for Manny Pacquiao. Garcia was going places. And then suddenly he was going nowhere.

Since outpointing Juan Carlos Burgos to retain a junior lightweight world title for the second time on Jan. 25, 2014, Garcia has not had a fight. Unhappy with his career-long promoter, Top Rank, Garcia, believing his promotional contract had expired, sued the company. The ensuing legal wrangling has kept him on the sidelines all this time. Finally, the issue was settled out of court a few months ago and Garcia was free to resume his career.

Top Rank, of course, promoted many big fights while Garcia sat out. Garcia, on the other hand, was a man without a fight — other than the one between his lawyers and Top Rank’s.

“I expect to pick up right where I left off. I was a world champion, I was undefeated, and I still am. I didn’t leave because I was injured. I think I’ll come back even better. I’m hungrier now than I was before.”
Mikey Garcia
But even though there was no end in sight on the contract beef, Garcia, a former featherweight titleholder who relinquished his junior lightweight title because he was idle and unable to make a mandatory defense, trained regularly at the Oxnard, California, gym of his brother and trainer Robert Garcia.

As much as he trained, however, he was spinning his wheels, with his career direction entirely uncertain. But at least he stayed in shape.

“Even though it’s been 2½ years, I stayed in the gym almost the entire time,” Mikey Garcia said. “I probably took maybe two to three weeks off throughout the entire two-year period. I was always active, always in the gym, and I was doing a lot of sparring, actually.”

Robert Garcia’s gym is filled with talented young fighters, and Mikey Garcia figures he sparred with almost all of them during his sabbatical.
Elio Rojas has only five fights in the last seven years. Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment
“I helped out a lot of the guys in my brother’s gym, starting with Marcos Maidana when he fought [Floyd] Mayweather,” Garcia said. “I was his primary sparring partner, and we worked a lot of rounds with him. And then the fights [of] my other gym members, like Saul Rodriguez — I was helping him, I was helping Max Perez, and the new guys that my brother has. They’re fighting frequently, very, very frequently.

“So I kept helping them in the gym and that allows me to stay in shape because, even though it’s been 2½ years, really, honestly, it seems like it was six, nine months for me because I stayed in the gym. I stayed active. I stayed in shape. And I never really took too much time out of the gym.”

All that training should finally come in handy as Garcia prepares for his return. He will take on former featherweight titlist Elio Rojas, himself saddled by a 23-month layoff, in a 10-round junior welterweight fight on Saturday night (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET with preliminary bouts on Showtime Extreme beginning at 7 p.m. ET/PT) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

“I feel like I can beat Mikey Garcia. I have some things that I think will give Mikey Garcia a lot of trouble. I have the tools.”
Elio Rojas
“I expect to pick up right where I left off,” Garcia said. “I was a world champion, I was undefeated, and I still am. I didn’t leave because I was injured. I think I’ll come back even better. I’m hungrier now than I was before.”

Said Robert Garcia: “It’s been a while. We might see a little bit of rust, a little bit of adjustment to timing. But the way he’s been in the gym, against top-quality fighters, he’s been looking so good that I wouldn’t be surprised if he put on one of his best performances.”

Garcia-Rojas is the co-feature of the three fights being televised on Showtime, a card headlined by featherweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) defending his belt for the second time when he faces former unified junior featherweight titleholder Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs). The telecast will open with a junior middleweight-title-elimination bout between Ricky Hatton-trained Sergey Rabchenko (27-1, 20 KOs) and Tony Harrison (23-1, 19 KOs).

Rojas (24-2, 14 KOs), 33, of the Dominican Republic, who held a featherweight title from 2009 to 2010, has not fought since a lightweight bout in August 2014. But that was his only fight in the past four-plus years. His inactivity was caused by a grand slam of problems: a contract dispute with former promoter Don King, management contract issues, injuries and a visa problem.

Rojas, too, is happy to be back.
“We’re both coming off of long layoffs,” Rojas said. “I see the fight pretty even. Garcia might have some advantages of being the bigger guy, but I’m not worried about that. I feel like I can beat Mikey Garcia. I have some things that I think will give Mikey Garcia a lot of trouble. I have the tools.

“We know that Mikey is the favorite. Everyone thought LeBron James was going to lose in the [NBA] Finals when he was down 3-1, but this is a sport and anything can happen.”

Robert Garcia said he and his brother are not taking Rojas for granted.

“Elio is a fighter that has been off for a while and he’s a former world champion. He’s also trying to come back and make a statement,” he said. “We have to be prepared for the opponent to be at the top of his game.”

Mikey Garcia said that other than the deal to fight Rojas, he remains a free agent with no ties to any network or promoter, although Showtime Sports general manager Stephen Espinoza has made no secret of his hopes that Garcia will remain on his network.

“It is a very positive thing in the sport for someone of Mikey’s caliber to be returning,” Espinoza said. “We’re excited to see what he has planned for a new division. And as is typical for Mikey’s career, he never takes the easy way out.”

Garcia (34-0, 28 KOs), 28, of Riverside, California, said he is also talking to adviser Al Haymon, who helped put together the fight. Business entanglements aside, Garcia said he is simply looking forward to getting back into the ring.
“I don’t feel any pressure at all. To me, it’s just another day at the office,” he said. “I have faith in my abilities and confidence in what I can do as a boxer. I’m excited to be back. I’m going to go in there and take care of business like I always do. I want to give the fans something to talk about.

“I’m more motivated than I ever have been before. It’s been a long time of working hard in the gym every day. I’m very happy to be back and I want to accomplish a lot more. I think you’re going to see a better Mikey on Saturday. My will to win is higher than it’s ever been.”

Garcia is fighting at junior welterweight but has not ruled out the possibility of moving down to lightweight. Whichever division he fights in, his goal is to win a world title in a third weight class.

“I want to fight at 135 and fight for a title there,” he said. “I’m going to see how my body feels after this fight, but that’s the plan as of now. We’re not looking past Elio. I definitely want to get back in the ring soon if everything goes right.”

And he certainly has no plans for another 2½-year layoff, which he said he has put behind him.

“I have no regrets,” Garcia said. “I’ve got to enjoy myself more than I had in the last 10 years. When you’re in boxing, it’s a year-round sport. You don’t have time to yourself, for your family or friends. You miss out on a lot. I learned a lot in my time away, about boxing and more.”