By Radio Rahim
Promoter Richard Schaefer of Ringstar Sports believes the potential showdown between Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) and Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) needs at least another year or so to properly build into a huge match.
At some point this year, both Garcia and Lomachenko could find themselves fighting in the same weight division.
Garcia, who still holds the WBC lightweight title, is going to return on February 10th when he challenges IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Schaefer's company is promoting that event.
Should Garcia win, he would become a four division world champion.
Afterwards, he intends to move back to 135-pounds to make a mandatory defense against Jorge Linares.
Lomachenko currently holds the WBO super featherweight title, but he plans to make a move to the lightweight division at some point this year.
Schaefer believes the two boxers should allow their careers to play out for at least another year and secure additional high profile wins. If they go in that direction, Schaefer expects the public demand for their showdown to skyrocket.
"Well you know, I've put together many, many fights with [Lomachenko's promoter] Bob Arum. We put together many great fights. I don't always agree with everything Bob does or says, and I'm not a big fan of letting fights marinate - but in this particular case I do believe that it makes sense to maybe wait a year or so, have both of those guys continue their respective journeys and build up their accomplishments," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com.
"I think this will be a fight where fight fans, and sports fans, and the general public - will demand that fight similar to what they have done with Mayweather-Pacquiao. This is going to be the fight that everyone will want to see. I'm convinced that it will happen. But I think that rushing into it would be a mistake - and that's from the guy who doesn't like to marinate. But in this particular case, I think patience is the right way."
