Robert Garcia Hopes Brother Mikey is Back in First Half of 2016

By Steve Kim

It's been over two years since former two-time world champion Mikey Garcia last fought. Since defeating Juan Carlos Burgos on January 25th, 2014 at the Theater of Madison Square Garden, he's been embroiled in a lawsuit with Top Rank which has sidelined him and derailed the momentum on what had been a successful career.

His brother, Robert, a renowned trainer, is puzzled by what has transpired.

"It definitely hurts us, myself, my dad, but to be honest, I think Mikey wanted this time off. He's had promotional problems and of course, everyone knows there are these issues so I think Mikey wanted this time off," said Garcia on Tuesday afternoon. "He's back in the gym now training and now it's about time, we see it in him that he wants to get back in there.

"He did so many things he never did when he was younger, he loves other stuff. The last two years he enjoyed everything he wanted to do. He stayed in shape, he's not over-weight so when he comes back - if he does come back soon - he'll make a good impression."

During this layoff Garcia left millions on the table. His current record is 34-0(28 KO's). The bright side is that he still has time on his side.

When asked if we'd see his brother in the ring in the first half of this year, Garcia replied - "We we're hoping we'd see him in the first half of 2016. That's what we thought, we didn't think it would take this long. But now at this point Mikey doesn't care if it takes another six months or a year. He just turned 28 in December. So when he does come back it'll take a few fights to get back in rhythm but eventually he'll be back on top the way everything looked two years ago."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.