By Keith Idec
Dejan Zlaticanin isn’t exactly a household name among boxing fans in the United States.
Mikey Garcia realizes full well, however, that he has accepted a difficult assignment Saturday night in Las Vegas. Garcia will attempt to become a three-division world champion at Zlaticanin’s expense, yet understands Zlaticanin will offer much more resistance than Elio Rojas did nearly six months ago in Garcia’s first fight at lightweight.
“He’s a very good, aggressive fighter with dangerous power,” Garcia said during a conference call last week. “He’s always coming in looking for the knockout, looking for big shots, trying to land his big, big overhand left, right hand to the body. Just, he’s very good at what he does.”
Montenegro’s Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs) will make the first defense of the WBC world lightweight title he won by stopping Bolivia’s Franklin Mamani (22-3-1, 12 KOs) in the third round June 11 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Zlaticanin – an aggressive, powerful southpaw – also has beaten current WBA super world super lightweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) by split decision, Petr Petrov (38-4-2, 19 KOs) by unanimous decision and stopped then-unbeaten Ivan Redkach (19-2-1, 15 KOs) in the fourth round.
The defending champion stands 5-feet-4, three inches shorter than Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs). But he has been a lightweight throughout his 8½ years as a pro and Garcia expects him to be his strongest opponent to date.
“He seems to come forward, timing that overhand left,” said Garcia, who beat Rojas (24-3, 14 KOs) by fifth-round technical knockout July 30 in Brooklyn. “He’s been pretty successful with it. He’s had a lot of success with that overhand left. Uses the right to get in close, get the range, measure his opponents. And if he gets them with that straight left, overhand left, it’s his power punch. It seems to be his favorite punch. And it’s worked for him.
“So that’s something I’ve got to be careful for. We’ve been training for that. But he’s also always very aggressive just physically, because mentally he doesn’t really take a step back. He doesn’t really seem to ever get discouraged. He’s always coming forward, always has the champion’s mindset of winning. That’s just the way a champion should be, and I respect him for being like that because he is a world champion. He’s not a paper champion. He’s not somebody that they just gave a title to. He’s earned it. He’s definitely earned his world championship status.”
Garcia, 29, will challenge Zlaticanin, 32, in the first of two fights Showtime will air from MGM Grand Garden Arena.
In the main event, ex-three-division champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs), of Rosemead, California, will attempt to win back his WBA world featherweight championship from Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs). Northern Ireland’s Frampton defeated Santa Cruz by majority decision in their 12-rounder July 30 in Brooklyn to win that title.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
