By Chris Williams: Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) says he’s sure he’ll beat Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) if he steps up to the plate and faces him in 2018. Mikey is waiting for Lomachenko to move up in weight to the lightweight division so the two of them can fight each other.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Mikey, 30, has doubts whether Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank will allow him to take the fight. Mikey feels that when Lomachenko does move up to the 135-lb. division, Arum will line him up with someone for him to win a world title against, but not against him. In other words, Arum will match Lomachenko against a non-threat, someone that he’s certain he can beat. There’s already talk that Arum will have Lomachenko move up to 135 next year to face his Top Rank fighter Ray Beltran for the WBO lightweight title, which is vacant right now.
“I want to see him take bigger challenges,” said Mikey to Fighthub in talking about Lomachenko. “He’s fighting smaller men. I’m moving up in weight to fight bigger men, because I want that challenge.“
Mikey is moving up in weight 1 division for his next fight against IBF light welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) on February 10 at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas. It’s a risky fight for Mikey because he’ll be fighting a bigger guy from a weight class above him at 140. Lipinets can punch, and it’s not a given that Mikey will win the fight. He’s still willing to take the risk though even though it’s not a guaranteed win for him.
“If he’s ready to move up to 135, we can do it,” said Mikey about Lomachenko. “I know Bob wouldn’t say anything positive about it. I don’t know if he’s interested in facing me. The way I know Top Rank works, they’ll have someone else in line for him to win a title at 135 or maybe at 140. Most likely he’s not going to want to face me, because Bob won’t allow it. I don’t think he will. Bob Arum has been doing business for so well for so long, the way he runs his business and it’s not in his best interest to face me with his fighters; whether it’s financial reasons or taking a loss or whatever. I don’ think he’s going to be very excited to do business with me. Maybe down the road we can have that fight,” said Mikey.
I don’t think Arum is going to want to make the fight between Mikey and Lomachenko because it’s too much risk for his fighter. Lomachenko is someone that Arum is trying to build into a PPV star. He’s been comparing him to Muhammad Ali and saying he’s the best in the sport, and yet he’s already been beaten by Orlando Salido when he made the mistake of making that fight before the Mexican warrior was over-the-hill.
“I think I’d beat him,” said Mikey about Lomachenko. “I think my skill, my ability, my strength, and my size definitely helps me. I want to see him fight guys at least in his own division, fighters like [Gervonte] Davis and [Miguel] Berchelt, guys that are the same size and very talented. They present a real challenge, and they’re not smaller guys. To get more credit, he needs to be fighting bigger men or at least men his own size in his weight class for him to be able to get credit,” said Mikey.
I must agree with Mikey about his belief that he’ll beat Lomachenko. I think he will too. I also agree with Mikey that Arum will never make that fight. If the match does happen, it’ll be when/if Lomachenko leaves Top Rank or if there’s a change of management in the company at some point in the future. That could happen one of these days. Until then, I don’t think Arum is going to let Lomachenko fight Mikey.