By Keith Idec

Richard Schaefer thinks this is just the beginning for Mikey Garcia.

Beating Sergey Lipinets on February 10 wouldn’t just add a world title in a fourth weight class to Garcia’s already-impressive resume. It’ll strengthen Garcia’s standing as a future superstar, according to Schaefer, whose company, Ring Star Sports, is the co-promoter of the Garcia-Lipinets card.

“I am convinced, a hundred-percent convinced, that Mikey Garcia will be the face of the sport,” Schaefer told BoxingScene.com following a press conference to officially announce the Garcia-Lipinets fight Monday in Los Angeles. “He will carry the sport and he’s gonna be the one who’s gonna break these pay-per-view records.”

Schaefer’s statements are sure to generate great debate, considering Garcia, 30, has yet to headline a pay-per-view event. The Oxnard, California, native’s biggest fights thus far have been broadcast by HBO and Showtime, which will air Garcia-Lipinets from the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Schaefer still is certain that by continuing to accept significant challenges, the unbeaten WBC lightweight champion is beginning to develop a broader fan base. It helps, of course, that the powerful, skillful Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) is positioned to fight top opponents in three weight classes – from Vasyl Lomachenko at lightweight, all the way to Terence Crawford at welterweight – if he can conquer Kazakhstan’s Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) to win the IBF junior welterweight title.

“He just keeps challenging himself,” Schaefer said. “Who knows if after this he’s gonna go and call out the big 147-pounders? Or he’s gonna go down to 135 and unify with [Jorge] Linares? So I think the fact is there are so many doors that are open for Mikey, so many exciting fights are out there for Mikey, be it at 135, be it at 140. In both divisions, he could unify. That’s one path. He could go to 147. The world is his. There’s a lot of exciting matchups out there and I think all of us can sit back and enjoy the journey Mikey Garcia will take.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.