By Hector Gonzalez: Last week I wrote an article for BN24 exploring with fans why many were still picking Broner over Garcia this past weekend. The article caused a bit of friction as many fans refused to believe that Garcia was the superior fighter. Now that the fight has passed and much of what I talked about in my last article has actualized, it feels as though some fans are still uncertain of what they saw, many are assuming that the reason why Broner lost was because of something self inflicting, like “Broner lost because he didn’t throw enough punches”, “Broner lost because he didn’t apply enough pressure”, etc.
It’s very simple, Broner (with all due respect) never had a chance. Mikey Garcia was the 1/5 favorite for a reason and many fans are failing to understand why he was the favorite even after the fight. Broner did not lose because of Broner, Broner lost because of Mikey Garcia.
Garcia’s boxing ability is masterful, he’s the type of fighter whose fundamentals are so intact that he is the epitome of fundamentals. I’ve been following Mikey Garcia for years now and from day one I believed that his boxing ability stood out, one of the main observations that I’ve made is that Garcia has never looked in trouble, it’s as if has an answer for everything.
It’s pointless to get into the ‘I told you so’ discussion. However, there is something to be said about whether fans actually understood what they just witnessed. The reason I say that is because many fans still appear to be in denial- “Broner needed to have bigger punch output”, “was Broner weight drained?”, “Broner started to late”, etc are just a couple of things I’m hearing from fans. I’d like to point out though, that as people are continuing to point out what Broner did wrong, very few are pointing out what Mikey Garcia just did.
For instance, on a couple of occasions Broner attempted a right straight to the body, Garcia as he was always in position simply curved his waist slightly and responded with an assertive left hook, it landed once on Broner’s chin but not clean. However it was clear that if it had landed clean, it would have been lights out for Broner. He never went back to the body from the outside again. The most impressive thing about it, which I hope fans are paying attention to, is that Garcia never went out of position, it’s as if his body was always prepared to counter from any angle. In other words, there’s nothing Broner could have done, Garcia had an answer for it, also, in moments of momentum for Broner, Garcia adjusted quick. Another key factor for Garcia is that he has immaculate timing, it’s as if you could hear him thinking as he’s about to set up his next move.
The most adversary that Garcia has been in was from what appeared to be an intentional head bunt by Orlando Salido that broke Garcia’s nose in a fight were Garcia was winning every round, including 4 knock downs after 8 rounds.
To put it bluntly, assuming that Broner was fully prepared, mentally prepared, fully in shape which I believe he was, he still did not have a chance against Garcia. This could be the beginning of something special.
It’s natural for Garcia to be mentioned in the same sentence as Vasyl Lomachenko or Terence Crawford. Based on comments I’ve been hearing from fans, some feel as though Lomachenko and Crawford are a step above Garcia. I’d say not so fast…. all three of them have been in drawing interest for years, even them fighting one another has drawn interest for a couple of years now, it’s not a new topic. These guys where meant to fight each other one day.