By Francisco Salazar
Unbeaten Miguel “Mikey” Garcia is likely to return to action sometime in June, with or without Yuriorkis Gamboa as an opponent, Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler told BoxingScene.com on Saturday night.
The proposed bout between Garcia and Gamboa was penciled to take place on May 17th at the newly renovated Forum in Inglewood, a suburb of Los Angeles.
It looks as though Top Rank will focus its resources to finalize a proposed bout between Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado on that date.
“We’re waiting for HBO on an available TV date,” said Trampler.
A proposed bout between Garcia and Gamboa has been talked about even Garcia fought and defeated Juan Carlos Burgos on January 25th in New York City. Both have had a war of words on social media, culminating in Gamboa approaching Garcia inside the ring after the Burgos fight.
Garcia’s upcoming bout may be closer to his home of Moreno Valley, CA and his training camp in Oxnard. Garcia has fought his last four fights outside of California, two in Texas and two in New York City.
While a fight near Garcia’s home is favorable and a fight against Gamboa is what a majority of fans want, Trampler is guarded on the latter. Talks are ongoing between the Garcia and Gamboa camps.
“Mikey will fight anyone (and) anywhere,” said Trampler. “The Gamboa fight is what Mikey wants, but you can never tell with him (Gamboa). He has a history of pulling out of fights.”
No word on where Garcia’s fight will take place, but the Stubhub Center in Carson, CA could be a frontrunner amongst the number of Southern California venues.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and he has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. He also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Knockout Nation, and RingTV. He could be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing