Mikey Garcia vs. Dejan Zlaticanin – Results

BoxingNews24.com

By Dan Ambrose:Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) destroyed WBC World lightweight champion Dejan Zkaticanin (22-1, 15 KOs) by a 3rd round knockout to become a fourth division world champion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. In round 3, Mikey, 29, hurt Zlaticanin with a right uppercut followed by a left to the back of the head and then a right to the head that knocked him clean out. Zlaticanin collapsed to the canvas on his back and laid there for a long time before they were able to revive him.

Mikey, 5’7”, used his three-inch height advantage over the 5’4” Zlaticanin to dominate the fight on the outside. When Zlaticanin would try and get in punching range, Mikey’s long left arm pushed away at him to keep him from getting close. Zlaticanin was helpless to get near to Mikey, as he was either pushed away or unable to close the distance.

Zlaticanin was at his best in the 1st round when he was able to land some ice left hooks. His problem was he couldn’t land enough of the shots to make himself competitive. Mikey was teeing off on him with big shots and peppering m with jabs from the outside. Zlaticanin was slow on his feet in trying to get to the inside on Mikey, which is what he needed to do because he was getting picked apart on the outside.

In round 2, Mikey started to unload on Zlaticanin with left hooks and right hands to the head. The shots were very good. Zlaticanin’s nose was reddening, and he looked like he was already worn out from taking shots. It was clear that he wasn’t going to be able to anything to make it a fight.

It was impressive to watch Garcia make easy work of the southpaw Zlaticanin. The fight was supposed to have been a competitive one, but Garcia had too much boxing skills, power, and too much reach. Zlaticanin looked like he hadn’t trained properly for the style of Garcia, because he had no adjustments to make for him to get near enough to unload his big power shots.
Zlaticanin might want to take some time off from boxing for him to regroup from this loss.

Zlaticanin was knocked out hard, and he needs some time to come back from a loss like this. Hopefully, Zlaticanin is okay after this knockout. He was so badly hurt. You just never know. Zlaticanin is still a very good fighter. He just lost to arguably the best fighter in the division in Mikey Garcia. Zlaticanin would match-up better against the other top fighters in the lightweight division. He might be good enough to beat Linares or Crolla. Zlaticanin is just so tough, powerful and effective on the outside.

After the fight, Garcia said that he’s interested in facing the winner of the Anthony Crolla vs. Jorge Linares rematch. With the way Garcia looked tonight, it’s going to be all but impossible for the winner of the Crolla-Linares 2 fight to deal with him. Mikey simply looks a lot better than both of those guys right now. His punching power is too good. Garcia might get a better fight against Terry Flanagan, but even that fighter will have his work cut out for him against the likes of Garcia.

Right now, Garcia is just too good for anyone in the division in this writer’s estimation. He has too much power and talent. Garcia might need to move up to light welterweight for him to find a suitable fight against fighters like Terence Crawford or Adrien Broner. Those are the best fighters at 140. Garcia said that he wants to move up in weight in the future.