Robert Garcia confirms Mikey Garcia ducked Lomachenko

[Rusty Tromboni]

lol why the **** he ducked lomo for spence,,nonsense

Uh... people expect him to lose to Spence. So just doing well is a victory. Just showing up earns him fan recognition and appreciation. It's like Duran losing to Hagler - people celebrate Duran more for his loss than Hagler for his victory. That fight definitely gets talked about more than his wins over Cuevas and Palomino: better Duran performances.

Losing to a guy smaller and way less experienced than you does nothing for your career. It would cost mikey tens of millions. he just becomes another forgettable stud who looked like a spud against the Cossack.

[Derranged]

I'm a Loma fan but this is stupid. It sucks for the fans because the fight seemed inevitable, but moving up to fight Spence is more of a challenge than fighting Loma.

[ramses07]

I agree that he should have fought Loma before moving up.
Loma/Garcia would have been a huge fight to make both in terms of legacy and money.
I cannot think of any other reason as to why Garcia wouldn't want to make that fight first unless their had to have been something about the matrix style the he wanted no part of or he just wasn't willing to risk his 0 to a 50/50 fight or one that alot of people would expect him to win.
I'm with you is duck season for Mikey. Quack, quack.

do you know how hard the fight would've been to make, given the Arum beef?

those types of fights are made when there's huge money on the table.

and I dont think Mikey wanted to waste time, that fight wouldn't have happened until 2020, especially given Loma's recent shoulder

its like boxing fans dont understand politics

[Citizen Koba]

They're at the point where they're pretending Loma doesn't even exist as a way to excuse their ducking. These guys were in the exact same division, before that always just 1 division apart, being talked about fighting for years. Each had or was about to have 2 belts at 135. Now Team Mikey is talking like Loma doesn't even exist. "All the big fights are at 147. He might move to 154."

All the Mikey fans said it wasn't a duck because he would fight Loma after. How is he going to fight Loma after at 147 or 154? He could have fought Loma, won, then gotten twice as much money to fight Spence and move up to welterweight as the new face of boxing, #1 P4P, undisputed lightweight champ moving up. THAT'S a legacy. THAT is how you put your name next to Robert Duran. Instead, he chose to never fight Loma, chose to time things in the exact specific way to where he would never have to fight Loma or even be asked about fighting Loma again after this.

It's a straight duck. Mikey didn't want to fight the fast Gamboa, now he ducked the fast Loma. Seems Mikey knows he has trouble with speed and skill and chooses slower opponents like Spence on purpose. I'm guessing he will never fight Crawford but then again, Crawford was hurt badly even by little Gamboa, lost 4 straight rounds vs Gamboa, and obviously due to size would be favored to KO Loma if they fought but up until the KO came, he would likely lose every round to the more skilled smaller as fast but far more technical Loma.

So even Mikey fighting Crawford is not the same. It's almost as difficult because of the size, but Mikey is big too. It's not as difficult on the skill level and that's what Mikey seems to be afraid of. Plus Jose Benavidez with one good leg clipped Crawford good and stunned him a bit multiple times, so Mikey's puncher's chance would have a way better shot at landing vs Crawford than Loma, as Gamboa also proved multiple times. Even Horn caught Crawford a few times.

So I could see Mikey fighting Crawford for that reason, but I still don't expect it. He seems to know he's not good vs speed so he's fighting only the styles beneficial to him. Probably the real reason he left Arum. Man, the parallels between Mikey and Floyd in every way except skills are scary.

How on earth do you manage to read a quote about Mikey wanting to stay at 147 and interpret it as a duck of Lomachenko? Robert is right - all the bigger fights are at 147 and now he's in his 30s it's highly doubtful Mikey's gonna be able to come down again anyway without ruining himself (and why would we want to see that?) You spending to much time thinking about this ish and writing your damn essays on here, man. Go out. Get some fresh air... this place ain't good for your brain.

[paulf]

Hilarious that someone with "logic" in their freaking username would post this.

There is no such thing as ducking a guy to take a far more difficult fight.

There is no such thing as ducking a guy to take a far more difficult fight.

There is no such thing as ducking a guy to take a far more difficult fight.

[bigjavi973]

"duck" a smaller opponent to fight a bigger, stronger opponent?




o...............k..................

[chrisJS]

I don't think Mikey ducked him and just as ridiculous as that notion is there's a ridiculous notion that Lomachenko ducked him too. When Lomachenko was coming to 135 he always said he wants to fight Mikey and that's the biggest fight and Mikey always used Top Rank as a reason it can't happen. Lomachenko sounded more like a guy wanting to make it happen whereas Mikey was telling why it can't happen which can suggest he was sort of close minded to the idea. It's just the way Boxing works these days especially with Top Rank and Haymon. They aren't going to match their top guys together so Mikey had an option at 147 and he took it and now he's there to stay it would appear.

It is unfortunate because they were both in a position were they had all four titles between them and the next minute Spence-Garcia is confirmed for 147 which not many people were into. I think Haymon is more doing Spence a favor by getting him a big name since Thurman, Porter haven't been in a rush to face him.

At 135 I guess WBC will mandate Campbell vs. Abdullaev for a similar time as the Lomachenko VS. Commey WBA/IBF/WBA unification and we'll soon have that undisputed championship at the weight.

[GhostofDempsey]

Consider his best win in 39 fights is Broner. The writing was on the wall for Mikey, if he stayed with Top Rank he was going to be forced into a fight with either Loma, Pac or Crawford, there was nowhere to run. Loma at 130/5, Pac at 140/7 and Crawford at 140/7. Uncle Al got him a couple of low-risk/medium reward fights and now he is fighting Spence, who has power and a solid chin, but lacking in footwork and speed. Mikey was always big for his weight-classes, he walks around at 165+, so 147 is a good weight for him. If he loses to Spence, his options don't get much better but he can still make money fighting Danny Garcia, Khan, and Pac. Porter would be an ugly fight and I favor Thurman over Mikey at 147.

After this fight I think he will be a catch-weight fighter between 138 - 143.

[Curt Henning]

I don't think Mikey ducked him and just as ridiculous as that notion is there's a ridiculous notion that Lomachenko ducked him too. When Lomachenko was coming to 135 he always said he wants to fight Mikey and that's the biggest fight and Mikey always used Top Rank as a reason it can't happen. Lomachenko sounded more like a guy wanting to make it happen whereas Mikey was telling why it can't happen which can suggest he was sort of close minded to the idea. It's just the way Boxing works these days especially with Top Rank and Haymon. They aren't going to match their top guys together so Mikey had an option at 147 and he took it and now he's there to stay it would appear.

It is unfortunate because they were both in a position were they had all four titles between them and the next minute Spence-Garcia is confirmed for 147 which not many people were into. I think Haymon is more doing Spence a favor by getting him a big name since Thurman, Porter haven't been in a rush to face him.

At 135 I guess WBC will mandate Campbell vs. Abdullaev for a similar time as the Lomachenko VS. Commey WBA/IBF/WBA unification and we'll soon have that undisputed championship at the weight.

I highly doubt this is a "favor" done by al for spence

a favor is when he had berto pull out of the shane/berto fight so Floyd could fight shane

mikey is a star in his own right...but hes not a pac level star where you can say "oh yeah this is gonna propel spence".......but mikey is still a star and I think al could have found safer avenues for mikey if he wanted to

I just think mikey is getting older and its easier for him to not cut weight..might be easier for him transform some weight into muscle than it is to cut.....and of course theres some money....theres no real money at 135 and not much at 140 either right now

mikey wanted this fight as much as this could be any "favor" by al....

even if mikey hangs(I can totally see it) and loses a competitive fight hes going to win a lot of respect and still be in the mix for good paydays at 147(although most will prob just say spence sucks and is overrated instead giving mikey his due...as you know is the norm around here for most guys)....mikey has lucrative options if he doesn't get obliterated

[filup79]

I agree that he should have fought Loma before moving up.
Loma/Garcia would have been a huge fight to make both in terms of legacy and money.
I cannot think of any other reason as to why Garcia wouldn't want to make that fight first unless their had to have been something about the matrix style the he wanted no part of or he just wasn't willing to risk his 0 to a 50/50 fight or one that alot of people would expect him to win.
I'm with you is duck season for Mikey. Quack, quack.

Mikey told Loma to move up after he met him at ESPN studios if he was serious about fighting him. Instead Loma stayed at 130 and fought Marrieaga and Rigo. Mikey was fighting at 135-40 and was only a matter of time before he couldn't make 135 anymore. Was he supposed to wait on Loma? Loma could have challenged Mikey after the Rigo fight but went on to fight Linares and Pedraza while continuing to mention fighting Mikey.