By Keith Idec
Robert Easter Jr. was as surprised as anyone when he learned Mikey Garcia was willing to move up to 140 pounds to fight Adrien Broner.
Easter thought that he would be the About Billions Promotions boxer to get a shot at Garcia, the unbeaten WBC lightweight champion. The undefeated IBF 135-pound champion hopes he still gets a chance to face Garcia, but he expects that Garcia will have a loss on his record when that happens.
Easter, who is promoted by Broner’s company, is confident his friend will beat Garcia when they meet July 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Showtime).
“I know what AB’s coming to do,” Easter told BoxingScene.com. “AB has a lot of skills. I’m surprised that Mikey and them wanted this fight. But Mikey’s a fighter. He’s a good fighter. He’s a tough competitor and he’s coming to fight, definitely. But I just know what AB, what he’s bringing to the table.”
Cincinnati’s Broner (33-2, 24 KOs, 1 NC) has lost only welterweight fights to Argentina’s Marcos Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs) and Las Vegas’ Shawn Porter (27-2-1, 17 KOs). The Maidana matchup 3½ years ago in San Antonio was contested at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, three pounds above the catch weight at which he opposed Porter two years ago in Las Vegas.
Broner, 27, is undefeated in bouts at 140 pounds and lower. The 29-year-old Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs), of Oxnard, California, still is a 4-1 favorite over the former four-division champion.
Being a big underdog “definitely” has motivated Broner, according to Easter, who added, “He’s gonna upset a lot of people that night.”
Easter, meanwhile, will make the second defense of his IBF 135-pound title Friday night. The 5-feet-11 Easter (19-0, 14 KOs) is set to battle Russian southpaw Denis Shafikov (38-2-1, 20 KOs), his mandatory challenger, in a 12-round main event at Huntington Center in Easter’s hometown of Toledo, Ohio (Bounce TV; 9 p.m. ET).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.