By Chris Williams: Mikey Garcia’s trainer Robert Garcia took issue with Vasyl Lomachenko and his promoter Todd Duboef of Top Rank saying that they weren’t impressed with Mikey’s performance last Saturday night against Adrien “The Problem” Broner.
Robert challenged duBoef to call him to make a fight between Lomachenko and Mikey for November. Robert doesn’t think they’ll contact him to make the fight. Robert figures that Lomachenko will stay at super featherweight, and will look to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux in his next fight after Saturday’s title defense against Miguel Marriaga. Robert thinks it’s a lame choice for an opponent for Lomachenko due to Marriaga having been beaten in his last fight by WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez.
Mikey beat Broner by a 12 round unanimous decision in a one-sided fight. However, he was unable to knockout Broner. It was impossible for Mikey to land anything big on Broner, because he was fighting defensively and covering up each time Mikey would go on the attack. Broner didn’t throw a lot of power shots in the fight. Mikey likes to counter his opponents when they open up with their big shots.
“Todd has to say that because Mikey’s not with him anymore,” said Robert Garcia to ES News Reporting.“He obviously has to promote his own fighters, and it was about Lomachenko. The media guys said on the call that Mikey didn’t look good, that he wasn’t impressed.”
Robert started out the interview cool and calm in talking about Lomachenko and duBoef not being impressed with Mikey’s win over Broner. But as the interview progressed, Robert seemed to get angrier by the minute. At the end of the interview, Robert had worked himself up to a boiling point.
I don’t see why he was so upset. It’s not surprising that Lomachenko and duBoef had little good to say about Mikey. If they were to pour praise of Mikey’s head, then the boxing public would expect them to make a fight with Garcia next. I don’t think they want to do that. I see Lomachenko staying at lightweight and looking to fight Rigondeaux or Salido if either of those fights can be made. Even if they can’t, I think Lomachenko will stay at super featherweight. I get the impression that he’s not eager to fight Mikey.
“Reach out to us. We’ll do the fight in November,” said Robert Garcia in calling out Lomachenko for Mikey Garcia. ”It’s an easy fight to make. Let’s do the fight in November. Let’s see if they call me. I bet you they don’t call me.”
Mikey and Robert will likely wind up waiting a long time for that phone call from Lomachenko’s promoters at Top Rank, because I don’t see them doing it. Lomachenko has too many other fighters he can still fight from the 122, 126 and 130 lb. divisions. Mikey would be a dangerous fight for Lomachenko to take due to his size and power. It’s far easier for Lomachenko to stay where he’s at and fight potentially smaller guys like Rigondeaux. The boxing public wants to see Lomachenko fight Mikey, but that’s not enough to make the fight happen. Lomachenko and his promoters at Top Rank have to want to make that fight happen. I don’t believe they want that fight. Actions speak louder than words. You see who Lomachenko is fighting on Saturday night. It’s Marriaga, not Mikey. I smell fear.
