Bad move by Mikey Garcia

By Hector Gonzalez

It’s been over a week since Mikey Garcia’s one sided loss to Errol Spence on March 16, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. As the days are passing, it’s becoming more clear that Mikey made a big mistake moving up 2 weight classes to challenge Spence. Mikey is taking hits that are beyond the L he took, but he’s also lost the credibility of being perceived as one of the best pound for pound fighters on the planet.

Garcia is one of my favorite fighters of today, you could almost hear him think when he’s in the ring, always in position for whatever is coming, and carries devastating power in both hand. It goes without saying that I’m a fan, however, even I know that he was going to lose against Spence. One thing that I didn’t expect though is the backslash that both fighters are receiving for the fight even taking place to begin with. One would think that in general, Garcia would earn respect for moving up in weight to challenge the 147 pounder, the problem though is that boxing fans are not so understanding nor forgiving.

Poor Management

I’ve always been perplexed as to why Mikey’s career never took off as some of his contemporaries have, and truth be told, Mikey has accomplished more than most have. Besides Spence, Mikey has never looked bad… ever, never struggled against a fighter, never took harsh punishment, always made easy victories out his opponents. Both Spence and Garcia are advised by Al Haymon, I wonder though if Garcia had a fiduciary adviser besides Haymon, like the likes of a manager or promoter that advised Mikey not to fight Spence. I understand that Mikey’s family advised him not to fight Spence early on, however was there a stakeholder on Mikey’s camp that advised him not to take the fight, warning him that it could damage his career? I’m inclined to believe that Al Haymon’s fiduciary duties are more loyal to Spence than Garcia, after all Spence has the potential to be the next boxing superstar after Mayweather. I like Al Haymon’s business model, however in the case of Garcia, he probably could have benefited from a conventional promoter. Truth be told, Mikey’s career is not where it should be for a 4x world champion.

147

Here is the worse part of it all; Mikey Garcia could very realistically compete at welterweight, but because of a such one sided defeat against Spence it’s hard for the general public to visualize him competing at that weight class at all. Here’s the unsaid truth about all of this, Spence himself is not a natural welterweight ‘either’, he’s bigger, he’s more of a natural light middleweight then he is a welterweight. Some people have pointed this out, but just as much as Garcia is adding weight to meet Spence at 147, Spence is also cutting weight to be at 147. In other words, Garcia did not only face possibly the best welterweight on the planet, he also faced the biggest one. Imagine porter vs Garcia at a catch weight of 145, or a Danny Garcia at 145, or Amir Khan at 145, Pacquiao at 145 or Jeff Horn at 145. These are fights that in my opinion, Garcia would win or the very least be competitive in, however, after his performance against Spence, it’s hard for the general public to be reminded that Garcia is in fact one of the pound per pound best fighters of today. Many fans don’t like to admit that many of the current and former champions have used catch weights to their advantage; Pacquiao, Mayweather, and Canelo have all have used catch weights at some points. Why Mikey didn’t explore that doesn’t make sense. His option at 147 is potentially now tarnished as he wouldn’t be taken serious.

Mikey vs Lomachenko

In all realness, Mikey vs. Lomachenko is the only fight that the public wants to see from either fighter. It’s no secret that there is bad blood between Bob Arum and the Garcia stable, however if the public demands the fight there is no other option than to give the public what it wants. But now there is a problem, Mikey has lost stake in the fight. Mikey no longer has bargaining power, he’s going to be seen as a fighter that has to redeem himself. It’s unfortunate because both of them are champions at 135, unifying should be the only option.

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