By Victor Salazar
New York - Mikey Garcia (39-0, 30 KO’s) remains one of the hottest names in boxing. He’s on course to jump up to the 147-pound division to face one of the most feared fighters in the world, in IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence (24-0, 21 KO’s).
Many pundits are questioning as to why Garcia would make such a jump to face such a strong fighter in his weight division without even testing the waters at welterweight.
The bout is slated for February and likely in Las Vegas on a Showtime pay-per-view platform.
One man who was skeptical about the bout was Mikey Garcia’s trainer and older brother, Robert Garcia.
Robert Garcia still think the fight is to soon but says he also thinks Spence can be beaten by Mikey.
“We’ve always been against that fight but we think it’s too soon,” Robert Garcia told BoxingScene.com. “If Mikey does it little by little like the past champions, I think he can be an all-time great. I’m going to train him to beat Spence. He wants to go in there as the underdog. He’s been calling for the fight and I think Spence is beatable. After the fight, I’ll tell you what we saw and how we won.”
A lot of the criticism for the fight is because many pundits feel the size will be too much and many feel Garcia has a much more winnable option in the lightweight division, with WBA champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Mikey Garcia and Top Rank, who promote Lomachenko, had a bad falling out which turned into a legal battle and cost Garcia two years of his career.
However, his brother Robert maintained a good relationship with Top Rank.
The trainer feels the fight will happen within the next one or two fights after the Spence fight.
“I think that fight’s going to happen,” Robert Garcia said. “It has to happen. I was with Bob Arum last weekend and we had a meeting about that fight and we both agreed it will happen. I think we can wait one or two fights before then and it’s going to be a huge fight. I think it’s the biggest fight for both. Eventually it will happen. I know they want it and I know we want it.”