By Ryan Burton
A few weeks ago, WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) and WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) hurled insults at each other as both claimed that they were the superior fighter.
Garcia pointed to his victory technical decision victory over Orlando Salido, who beat Lomachenko by split decision in his second pro fight and the fact that he had already stopped Rocky Martinez before Lomachenko did a number on him last year as the reasons on why he was better.
Lomachenko fired back by saying that Garcia choose not to continue fighting when his nose was broken by a Salido head butt, which gave him a technical decision victory thanks to the multiple knockdowns he scored against the rugged Mexican. He also brought up the fact that he stopped Martinez in five rounds when it took Garcia eight rounds to land what he called a "lucky punch" and noted that Garcia was also dropped by Martinez.
In a recent conversation with BoxingScene.com, WBA/WBC/Ring champion Jorge Linares said that he would be interested in facing either fighter.
"We are prepared for whichever fighter. Whether it's Lomachenko or Mikey Garcia or (Terry) Flanagan - whoever it is we are ready. The most important thing is that I am motivated and have the hunger to fight the best best out there. I'm motivated and fighting at a real high level," he explained.
As for the beef between Lomachenko and Garcia, Linares just said that it comes down to the best wanting to fight the best.
"There is always a big rivalry among fighters. Mikey wants to fight Lomachenko. I want to fight Lomachenko. It always comes down to the fights that the promoters want. I will be ready for any of them," Linares told BoxingScene.com.
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