Robert Easter: record, next fight and profile →
Robert Easter Jr. doesn’t believe the reasons Mikey Garcia gave for not making their fight. Easter feels Garcia knows he is a high-risk alternative and simply doesn’t want to face him in a lightweight championship unification fight. Adviser Al Haymon, who works with Garcia and Easter, discussed that bout with them before Garcia went in a different direction last month.
IBF lightweight world champion Robert Easter will defend his title against former world champion Javier Fortuna in the co-main event of Errol Spence Jr. vs. Lamont Peterson on Saturday, January 20 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City.
Robert Easter Jr. wasn’t able to land the fight he really wanted, a lightweight title unification fight against WBC champion Mikey Garcia. The unbeaten IBF lightweight champ plans to make the most of the opportunity for which he settled, though. Easter expects to knock out Javier Fortuna on January 20 and use that impressive performance to help him land more meaningful fights later in 2018.
Javier Fortuna (33-1-1, 23 KOs) is not bothered by the height advantage of undefeated IBF lightweight world champion Robert Easter (20-0, 14 KOs). The two are set to collide on January 20th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The card is headlined by Errol Spence Jr. making the first defense of his IBF welterweight world title against Lamont Peterson.
A lightweight title unification fight against Robert Easter was among the options Mikey Garcia seriously considered before finalizing a shot at IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets earlier this month. Ultimately, though, neither Garcia nor Easter would’ve been paid enough to satisfy either fighter for that bout between undefeated lightweight champions. Instead, Easter (20-0, 14 KOs) will defend his IBF 135-pound championship against Javier Fortuna (33-1-1, 23 KOs) on January 20, three weeks before Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) challenges Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) on February 10 in San Antonio.
Undefeated 135-pound world champion Robert Easter will defend his IBF Title against former world champion Javier Fortuna in the co-main event of Errol Spence Jr. vs. Lamont Peterson live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) on Saturday, Jan. 20 from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING® and presented by Premier Boxing Champions.
Robert Easter Jr. had hoped to battle Mikey Garcia next in what would’ve been a lightweight title unification bout between unbeaten champions. Easter will settle for facing former 130-pound champion Javier Fortuna on January 20. According to multiple reports Thursday, the undefeated Easter will defend his IBF 135-pound championship against Fortuna on the Errol Spence Jr.-Lamont Peterson undercard next month at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Mikey Garcia could be headed toward a lightweight championship unification fight next. No, not that one. Garcia revealed in a series of Tweets on Monday that he isn’t willing to sign a long-term promotional contract with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to land a fight against WBA 135-pound champion Jorge Linares. De La Hoya’s company promotes Venezuela’s Linares (43-3, 27 KOs).
For regular fight followers, the decision was made long ago. The action in the ring, the drama unfolding three minutes at a time, matters more than the possibility of incompetence or the inevitable question of whether we are watching corruption hovering about the sport since long before most readers were even born.
Easter vs. Shafikov Fight Photos Gallery - Unbeaten lightweight world champion Robert Easter (20-0, 14 KOs) successfully defended his title for the second time Friday night with a victory over top contender Denis Shafikov (38-3, 20 KOs) in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on Bounce from the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.