By Steve Kim
On July 30th at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York, former two division world champion Mikey Garcia made his return to the ring - after a layoff of more than two years - by stopping Elio Rojas in five rounds to raise his record to 35-0 (29 KO's).
It was Garcia's first fight since January of 2014. The unbeaten fighter was involved in a long legal battle with former promoter Top Rank. Two sides settled their dispute a few months ago.
For the fight against Rojas, Garcia weighed 138 pounds. So what's next for this skilled craftsman?
''Mikey wants to fight for the lightweight title and the first name he brought up was (Terry) Flanagan, the WBO champion and Mikey wants to be a three-division for the WBO - I believe he gets a ring - that's what Mikey wants,"said his brother Robert Garcia, who works his corner.
"But if Flanagan has a mandatory against (Felix) Verdejo - and who knows he just had a motorcycle accident - but if that has to happen I think we might go after the WBC champion,''continued Garcia.
Currently the WBC lightweight belt-holder is Jorge Linares, who is scheduled to face WBA titlist, Anthony Crolla on September 24th in England.
There is a possibility that Garcia will return on October 15th at Staples Center, which was pitched to him by former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer - who is finally returning to the sport with a new promotional company and is looking to stage a Showtime televised card on that date - and is interested in having Garcia as part of that show.
"There's no date, no place or anything but I know Mikey wants to fight in October. After the fight Schaefer came to talk to us with (Showtime Sports head) Stephen Espinoza and Schaefer said he could lock down the Staples Center for October 15th. That's what Schaefer said that's not something Mikey agreed to or anything. Schaefer just mentioned the Staples Center, October 15th," Robert Garcia said.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
