Robert Garcia has braced himself for the economic impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on boxing trainers.

He hopes fighters also realize that the sport won’t be as flush with cash for them as it was before the coronavirus crisis brought boxing to a halt last month. Garcia discussed the financial toll this lengthy layoff could have on the sport during a recent episode of SiriusXM’s “Ak And Barak” show.

“A lot of fighters right now, with the way boxing is, have been making purses that are insane,” Garcia said. “I think it’s gonna be back to normal. Maybe the purses are gonna be a little bit less than what they’re used to making. But they’re gonna have to live with it.”

Garcia laughed and acknowledged that his younger brother, Mikey Garcia, likely will be one of those fighters when his high purses were pointed out. Mikey Garcia, a four-division champion and one of the best boxers in the sport, was reportedly paid $7 million for his last fight – a 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Jessie Vargas on February 29 in Frisco, Texas.

“I’m not the right person to say it because my brother might be mad at me for saying this,” Robert Garcia said. “But I think it is gonna change. You know, without gates, you know, there’s gates that make millions of dollars. And the promoter needs to have a good gate to make money. Sometimes the fighters take all of the TV money. So, then the promoter promotes the event, to get the people to buy tickets. And that’s where the promoter makes the money, so without any big audiences it’s gonna be very hard, you know, for the promoter to make their money.

“So, they’re obviously gonna have to pay the fighters less. I think that’s where we’re headed to. And it sucks to say because, you know, my fighters are gonna be affected, I’m gonna be affected. But, you know, what else are we gonna do? We have to deal with it. I think it’s gonna be a big change and we’re gonna see it in the next few months.”

Robert Garcia also trains unbeaten WBC/WBO 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez, whose mandatory defense against Ukraine’s Viktor Postol has been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The former IBF 130-pound champion is more concerned, however, about his fighters that don’t earn seven figures per appearance.

“Look, I have had those fighters that do struggle at times, especially when they haven’t fought in four, five months,” said Garcia, who owns and operates a gym in Riverside, California. “And I have given my fighters loans, you know, when they’re in training camp. Since this, you know, virus came around, you know, most of my fighters did their fights late-December or in January, some in February. You know, because that was the last show we had, February 29th with Mikey. And a lot of my fighters fought that same weekend. So, most of them are still doing OK.

“But I know that if this continues to go on, you know, another three, four months, it’s gonna be difficult for all of them. And it’s a situation that not only the fighters know, most of the trainers don’t get those big paydays from fighters that are making millions of dollars. You know, very few trainers have those type of fighters, also. And with the gyms being closed, they can’t go to the gym and do private training. A lot of trainers make money off private classes, so they can’t do that, either. So, it’s hard not only for the fighters, but for the trainers, people around [them].” 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.