By Keith Idec
Mikey Garcia could be headed toward a lightweight championship unification fight next.
Garcia revealed in a series of Tweets on Monday that he isn’t willing to sign a long-term promotional contract with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to land a fight against WBA 135-pound champion Jorge Linares. De La Hoya’s company promotes Venezuela’s Linares (43-3, 27 KOs).
That could lead Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs), the WBC lightweight champion, to battle unbeaten IBF lightweight champ Robert Easter Jr. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday night that Easter is considered the favorite to land a fight against Garcia either December 16 or on an undisclosed date in January.
The undefeated Easter has made two defenses of the IBF 135-pound championship he won by beating Ghana’s Richard Commey (25-2, 22 KOs) by split decision in their 12-rounder 13 months ago in Reading, Pennsylvania. The 26-year-old Easter (20-0, 14 KOs) most recently beat Russia’s Denis Shafikov (38-3-1, 20 KOs) by 12-round unanimous decision June 30 in Toledo, Ohio, Easter’s hometown.
Easter’s recent fights have been promoted by Adrien Broner’s company, About Billions Promotions.
Cincinnati’s Broner lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Garcia on July 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Garcia, 29, moved up from 135 pounds to 140 to battle Broner (33-3, 24 KOs, 1 NC) in what was the biggest fight of Garcia’s career.
Garcia was willing to move up two more weight classes to challenge Miguel Cotto in what’s being billed as the final fight of the Puerto Rican icon’s career December 2 at Madison Square Garden. That also would’ve required the Oxnard, California, native to sign a long-term deal with Golden Boy Promotions, thus he turned it down.
Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) instead will face welterweight contender Sadam Ali (25-1, 14 KOs) that night in a 12-round fight for Cotto’s WBO super welterweight title.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
