By Steve Kim
Golden Boy President Eric Gomez has confirmed to BoxingScene.com that he had a meeting on Wednesday morning at their offices in Los Angeles with WBC lightweight titlist Mikey Garcia, (37-0, 30 KOs) where the subject matter was a possible unification bout with WBA belt-holder Jorge Linares.
"It went very good, Mikey says he wants the fight, Linares says he wants the fight. So that's the fight Oscar [De La Hoya] wants me to make it. So we're going to do our best," said Gomez on Wedneday afternoon at the Palm Restaurant, where he was at the official press conference for the December 9th card at the Mandalay Bay that will feature Orlando Salido-Mikey Roman that will be broadcast on HBO.
And Gomez makes it clear that these talks will include no options or an insistence on a multi-fight deal with Garcia, who in the recent past had met with Golden Boy about other fights but resisted signing on with them preferring to keep his promotional independence.
"Obviously with Golden Boy we keep saying it - we want to make the best fights possible," explained Gomez. "We want to try to make these fights that the fans want to see. We can't always do it but if the majority of the time we can accomplish that - everybody wins."
One hurdle that needs to be cleared is that Golden Boy is affiliated with HBO, while Garcia (who is aligned with adviser Al Haymon) is situated with rival Showtime.
To which Gomez stated - "We talked about that and we have different scenarios that can play out. Obviously, we work with HBO and they're our partner but obviously, whatever it takes to make the fight, that's what we want to do."
As for when this showdown could possibly take place - "First quarter of next year, we can do it as soon as January, maybe February, maybe March. But first quarter," said Gomez.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.