FRISCO, Texas – Mikey Garcia is very thankful for the types of crowds he has helped draw to each of his last two fights in the Dallas area.
A massive announced audience of 47,525 attended Garcia’s first professional loss to Errol Spence Jr. last March 16 at the Dallas Cowboys’ home venue, AT&T Stadium, in nearby Arlington. On Saturday night, the attendance was announced at 11,019 for Garcia’s comeback from his loss to Spence, a 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Jessie Vargas at Ford Center at The Star, the Cowboys’ practice center.
Garcia “loves” fighting in Texas, where he also has boxed in Corpus Christi, Dallas, Grand Prairie, Hidalgo, Houston, Laredo and San Antonio. The former four-division champion is more than willing, however, to travel halfway around the world for his next fight.
Eddie Hearn announced following Garcia’s win against Vargas that “Saudi’s the plan” for Garcia’s possible showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Hearn intends to spend the next couple weeks deeply exploring the option of bringing a Pacquiao-Garcia fight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sometime during the summer.
England’s Callum Smith, whom Hearn’s company promotes, defeated domestic rival George Groves in Jeddah to win the WBA super middleweight title and the World Boxing Super Series’ 168-pound tournament in September 2018. Another Brit, Amir Khan, stopped Australia’s Billy Dib last July 12 in Jeddah, at the same venue, King Abdullah Sports City, as the Smith-Groves fight took place.
Hearn later arranged a deal for British superstar Anthony Joshua to fight Andy Ruiz Jr. in their heavyweight championship rematch December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. The financial success of that event encouraged Hearn to try to secure deals for other fights in that country.
If investors in Saudi Arabia can fund the types of purses that’d meet the respective asking prices of the Philippines’ Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), who owns the WBA “super” welterweight title, and Garcia (40-1, 30 KOs), Garcia gladly would fight there for that type of opportunity.
“I’m willing to fight anywhere,” Garcia said during a post-fight press conference Saturday night. “Every ring has four ropes and four corners. You know, it don’t matter where it’s posted. You know, if it happens to go to Saudi, we’ve just gotta be out there early, in time, to get adjusted to the time. But, you know, inside that ring it doesn’t matter where the fight is at. We’re ready to go anywhere.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.