Postol agrees to step aside for Danny Garcia

By Boxing News - 10/13/2014 - Comments

garcia565By Dan Ambrose: #1 WBC Viktor Postol (26-0, 11 KOs) has reportedly received a bonus to step aside so that WBC/WBA light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) can fight another opponent within the next 4 months. Postol can fight whoever he wishes during that time, but after that Garcia has within 90 days to fight Postol, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

If Garcia doesn’t face Postol within that 90 days then presumably he’ll be stripped by the World Boxing Council if Garcia doesn’t vacate his WBC title first, which is highly likely. It’s unknown how much money Postol received in order to step aside but it’s likely a significant amount of money.

The fact that Postol is being given a step aside bonus suggests that Garcia will vacate his WBC title rather than fight him, because the guy that Garcia will likely fight next, IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson, isn’t a huge name. A fight against Peterson isn’t that big of a fight. It’s obviously a bigger fight for Garcia than a fight against Postol, but it’s still not a big deal. We’re probably talking about the equivalent of Garcia fighting someone like Devon Alexander.

For Postol, it’s a win-win situation that he’s getting a step aside fee and that he’ll be fighting for the WBC title within 7 months. It likely won’t be Garcia he ends up facing though. It’ll be either #2 WBC Lucas Matthysse or #3 WBC Adrien Broner. My guess is Broner will be the one that Postol ends up fighting, because he’s backed by Al Haymon.

“There is a step aside agreement that we have finalized with Al [Haymon] and Golden Boy,” said Postol’s manager Vadim Kornilov to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “Postol and Garcia will both have an option to take other fights in the next four months and then Postol will again be in the mandatory position. This option worked out well for all of us at this time and we decided to let Garcia fight a big fight that they are planning before defending against Postol.”

That fight for Garcia will almost surely be against Lamont Peterson, and that’s not a big fight. It’s big compared to Garcia’s recent fights against little Rod Salka and Mauricio Herrera, but it’s not as big as Garcia’s fight against Matthysse. That fight was far bigger because Matthysse went into that fight with a lot of popularity.

Peterson doesn’t have that kind of popularity, especially after the way Matthysse destroyed him in three rounds last year.

Postol will have the option of fighting on Garcia’s undercard for his next fight, but as Rafael pointed out, that’s likely as close to a fight with Garcia that Postol is going to get. He’s not one of Haymon’s fighters, as he’s with Elite Boxing, and he’s a very dangerous fight for Garcia because of his height, jab and high work rate.

Garcia can’t afford to lose right now because he plans on moving up to welterweight to face the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Obviously, they see Peterson as a safe fight otherwise they wouldn’t be bypassing Postol to get to him.