By Radio Rahim
Former two division world champion Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29KOs) would love the opportunity to avenge his amateur defeat to Terence Crawford (29-0, 20KOs), who currently holds the WBC/WBO junior welterweight world titles.
Last month at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Garcia snapped a two and a half year layoff with a vicious four round knockout of former champion Elio Rojas.
A few years ago, a showdown between the two of them was very unlikely - because they shared the same promoter in Top Rank and they shared the same manager in Cameron Dunkin.
Fast forward to the present, Garcia is a promotional free agent and no longer managed by Dunkin.
At the moment Garcia is focused on capturing a world title at the lightweight limit of 135-pounds. Once that goal is accomplished, he wants to move up to 140-pounds to pursue a fourth divisional belt.
"I fought [Crawford] once in the amateurs. He beat me in the amateurs once. He completely outpointed me. It was the wrong game plan. I think now as a pro, it's a little different. He's got the skills so it won't be easy for me either - but it won't be easy for him," Garcia told BoxingScene.com.
"I think I can adjust, make the right adjustments, change the game plan a little bit and fight a lot harder. We got twelve rounds to work with, three minutes, no head gear and small gloves. That makes a big difference from the amateurs. It would be a very good fight."
Garcia is being positioned to fight again on a date in October. He would like to close out the year with at least three fights under his belt to make up for the long layoff - which was due to a long legal battle to break away from his promotional agreement with Top Rank. The two sides settled the case earlier this year.
