By Keith Idec
ARLINGTON, Texas – Mikey Garcia isn’t 100-percent certain he’ll move down at all, much less all the way back to 135 pounds.
If he were to return to lightweight, Garcia still would want to test his skills against Vasiliy Lomachenko. A move down to at least 140 pounds probably would benefit Garcia, who was soundly defeated by a bigger, stronger and better Errol Spence Jr. in their 12-round welterweight title fight Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.
Ukraine’s Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) isn’t expected to move any higher than the lightweight limit of 135 pounds, though. That would force Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) to move down 12 pounds – and to work with former promoter Top Rank Inc. – to secure a shot at Lomachenko.
“I would love a fight with Lomachenko,” Garcia said. “But I haven’t made a decision to come down to 135 just yet. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. You know, let me sit back with my brother later, and my dad, and we’ll figure out what division I’m gonna come down. And maybe I stay at 47, maybe I come down to 35. But at 35, that is the most interesting fight, with Lomachenko, and I would love to take on that fight.”
Lomachenko is scheduled to make a mandatory defense of his WBA lightweight title against England’s Anthony Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs) in his next fight. ESPN+ will stream that fight April 12 from Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Garcia’s contentious history with Top Rank and its founder, Bob Arum, is an obvious obstacle in the way of Garcia-Lomachenko becoming reality.
The 31-year-old four-division champion negotiated a buyout from his Top Rank contract in May 2016. The Oxnard, California, native then ended a 2½-year layoff in July 2016, and has since won world titles at lightweight and junior welterweight.
Garcia is confident he can return and succeed in the 135-pound and 140-pound divisions.
“Look, even though I moved up in weight, I never ballooned up too heavy,” Garcia said. “I never got too big, with muscle mass or anything like that. We just added a little bit of muscle mass, so that I could be at welterweight for this fight. But even weighing in, I was at 45½. I wasn’t a big welterweight. You know, I feel I could come back down to the lower divisions and perform great. I don’t think it would affect [me]. I don’t think it would affect [me]. If I decide to come down to a lower weight class, I could perform just as effective.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
