By Chris Williams: WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s) will be defending his title on Saturday night against #1 WBO Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1-2, 20 KO’s) in what shapes of to be a mismatch at the Madison Square Garden Theater, in New York, New York, USA. It’s definitely not a good sign that Burgos has fought to two straight 12 round draws in his last couple of fights, and with one of the draws coming against Roman Martinez.
Roman’s the guy that Mikey just destroyed in 8 rounds last November. HBO agreed to show the Mikey vs. Burgos fight knowing that Burgos hasn’t won a fight since 2012, and that’s more than a little disappointing for the boxing fans that’ll be watching it thinking it’ll be a competitive fight. Having Mikey fight an over-matched opponent is one thing, but then sticking it in the main event on HBO is really disappointing.
Here are the undercard fights. I’m sure glad this isn’t a pay-per-view card because there’s not much here.
Bryant Jennings vs. Artur Szpilka
Sean Monaghan vs. Matt Vanda
Felix Verdejo vs. Lauro Alcantar
Nothing to see here.
Mikey does have pressure on him for this fight against Burgos, because he’s got to win and look very good in doing. Mikey’s being quickly groomed for a shot at Manny Pacquiao for September of this year, and for that fight to take place, Mikey has to shine in every outing. He’ll likely beat Burgos easily, and then move up to lightweight in his next fight. His trainer Robert Garcia doesn’t want him to fight Yuriorkis Gamboa, but HBO does. If Mikey goes along with what Robert is telling him to do and not fight Gamboa, then it’s going to make Arum’s job a lot harder because he’ll need to find a top lightweight with a name that he can match against Mikey. If you take Gamboa off the table, then that will leave Terence Crawford, Ricky Burns, Omar Figueroa, Miguel Vazquez and Richard Abril. The only name out of that bunch that boxing fans would be impressed at seeing Mikey fight is Crawford, but Arum probably won’t make that fight because Crawford would likely beat Mikey and spoil any ideas of putting him in with Pacquiao.
If Arum can maneuver Mikey through the dangerous waters in the 135 lb. division, then he’ll be ready to be moved up to light welterweight to be put in position to get a fight with Pacquiao in September. I doubt that Mikey will be able to squeeze in a fight with a light welterweight by September, so he may need to fight Pacquiao without having fought at 140. In other words, Mikey would be going straight from lightweight to fighting Pacquiao at welterweight. Of course, it would be a recipe for failure for Mikey, but at least he’d get his payday fight against Pacquiao.
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