By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Consistency.

That, Mikey Garcia says, is largely what separates him from Adrien Broner. From a talent perspective, Garcia doesn’t think there’s all that much that differentiates them.

But Garcia has always behaved like a professional and the Oxnard, California, fighter has produced commensurate results on his way to 36-0 and winning world titles in three weight classes.

Broner, however, admits he often hasn’t trained as hard as he should have. That’s among the reasons the Cincinnati native hasn’t achieved as much as some expected during a star-crossed career in which he has won world titles in four weight classes.

Garcia suspects that’s why he opened as a 5-1 favorite over Broner, even though he is the one moving up from 135 pounds to 140 for their 12-round fight Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Broner, who has moved down from 147 pounds for their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event, is less of an underdog today than when their fight was announced last month.

That means more boxing bettors have been wagering their money on Broner (33-2, 24 KOs, 1 NC), but Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) remains more than a 2-1 favorite.

“People think that he’s inconsistent and maybe that’s why they consider me the favorite,” Garcia said. “But skills to skills, he’s one hell of a fighter. He can box, he can bang, he has speed and power. He’s one hell of a fighter. You can’t deny that. I’ve been a little more consistent with that and maybe that’s why they picked me over him.”

Showtime will televise Broner-Garcia as part of a doubleheader scheduled to start Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In the opening bout, Argentina’s Sebastian Heiland (29-4-2, 16 KOs) and Houston’s Jermall Charlo (25-0, 19 KOs) are scheduled to square off in a WBC middleweight elimination match. The winner will become the mandatory challenger for whoever emerges victorious when Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) battles Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) on September 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.