By Victor Salazar
New York - Last Saturday night, Mikey Garcia’s dominant win over Adrien Broner (33-3-1NC, 24 KO’s) put him in position for a number of options over two or even three weight divisions.
Garcia (37-0, 30 KO’s), who has multiple options at 135, whether it be Jorge Linares, Robert Easter, or Vasyl Lomachenko - if he decides to move back down to the lightweight ranks.
At 140 he has a massive showdown with Terence Crawford should the politics of boxing not intervene, and same goes for the Lomachenko fight at 135. Crawford returns to the ring on August 19th, when he faces Julius Indongo in a high stakes battle for the WBC, IBO, WBA, IBF, WBO world titles.
Promoter Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment feels Mikey is at the top of his game regardless of the weight division he occupies.
“Mikey is a 135-pounder coming up to 140 and he’s been boxing since he’s two and tonight he looked like he’s been boxing since he’s two,” DiBella told BoxingScene.com “If you’re going to make any list for top fighters - he is definitely at the top.”
If Dibella had his choice, Garcia would stay at 135 and fight a grudge match with Adrien Broner’s fellow Band Camp member, Robert Easter Jr.
"Mikey knows his body and he’ll figure it out, what weight class to be in,” said the promoter. “Obviously 135 is ideal. There’s good fights too, Robert Easter would be a good fight and the storyline of revenge would be good to sell too.
Former Top Rank stablemate Terence Crawford (31-0, 22 KO’s) has also climbed up the pound for pound ranks. The two have a connection as Garcia was supposed to fight Yuriorkis Gamboa back in 2014. Instead, Garcia decided to sit out and began a legal battle to get out of his contract with Top Rank - which he eventually did two years later.
When Garcia withdrew from that fight, it left an opening for Crawford to fight Gamboa. After that fight, Crawford's career took off. Should Garcia stay at 140, it would be a top fight to make in boxing.
However, DiBella feels Top Rank's CEO, Bob Arum, would not be too keen on making that fight.
“You think Bob Arum is going to let Crawford fight Mikey? It’s more likely that Crawford moves up to 147 after Indongo,” DiBella said.