By Jake Donovan
There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for former two-division champion Miguel Angel ‘Mikey’ Garcia, who believes a ring return can come as early as this upcoming spring.
The unbeaten fighting pride of boxing-rich Oxnard, Calif. hasn’t fought since a 12-round points win over Juan Carlos Burgos last January—in fact, one full year this coming Sunday. A planned showdown with Yuriorkis Gamboa last spring eventually fell apart over a dispute on how the available funds would be split.
Garcia passed on the fight, a decision followed by a lawsuit filed against Top Rank , claiming his contract had expired and also alleging violations of the Muhammad Ali Act.
The first sign of a thawing of the ice between the two sides came in November, when three causes of action in the initial complaint were dismissed by the U.S. District Court in Nevada.
More progress has since been made, with Garcia meeting with Top Rank in December. Both parties continue to chip away in search of resolution, with the fighter more optimistic of a ring return than has been the case in several months.
“We’re still in between trying to settle things with promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank, trying to figure things out. We want to be back,” Garcia (34-0, 28KOs) insisted during a recent segment of ESPN’s Making the Rounds. “We wish we could have been back at least once last year. That wasn’t possible, so we look forward to having a good 2015.
“Things are starting to shape up better now. We should be back in the ring in a few months - March or maybe April. That’s the more reasonable and actual time frame that I give myself.”
His return will come in a new weight class, as Garcia—a former titlist at featherweight and super featherweight—vacated the latter belt while on ring sabbatical, with the intention to campaign in the lightweight division once he was ready to resume his career.
The benefactor of that move was the fighter Garcia beat to win his first belt at featherweight. Orlando Salido picked up the vacant 130 lb. belt with an 11th round knockout of Terdsak Kokietgym last September, with both fighters repeatedly hitting the deck in one of the two best fights of 2014.
Garcia’s win over Salido in Jan. ’12 began a brief stay as a featherweight titlist, his reign lasting until his next fight. While he won in the ring—stopping former two-division champ Juan Manuel Lopez in four rounds last June—he lost the belt at the scales, showing up heavy as he simply outgrew the division.
Five months later, Garcia was back in the title fray after stopping Rocky Martinez in the 8th round of their Nov. ’13 bout to claim a 130 lb. belt. His 12-round win over Burgos less than three months later showed signs of desired ring activity, but instead serves as his last piece of ring action until he’s able to resolve all issues with Top Rank.
Because his ring return will come upwards of 15 months since his last fight, it’s very possible he skips over the 135 lb. division and heads straight to super lightweight. If he can handle the size, it could be the most lucrative move of his career given the current crop of talent.
“We have planned on moving to 135 earlier last year since we fought Burgos a year ago. So all of last year I should’ve been fighting there. Being that I was off for an entire year, we… will fight closer to 140,” Garcia said of his next fight. “If I feel we can come down to 135 for a title, I will come down. If there are good opportunities at 140, then I might just stay at 140 and fight for a title there.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox