By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn is looking to put together a fight between Mikey Garcia and Jessie Vargas for the first quarter of 2020 for DAZN, according to @MikeCoppinger. If the fight gets made, it’ll in the 147-lb division, and be staged in Los Angeles, California.
Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) has been hoping that Manny Pacquiao will choose him as his next opponent for April 2020. However, if Mikey takes the fight with Vargas (29-2-2, 11 KOs), then he won’t be getting the fight with the Filipino star. This could be a BIG mistake on Mikey’s part if he loses to Vargas, because he can forget about ever getting a fight against Manny if that happens.
Mikey didn’t look good against welterweight Errol Spence Jr. last March, and he looked almost as bad in his fight against Sergey Lipinets in 2018. A lot of boxing fans have forgotten how much punishment Mikey took against Lipinets. At the end of the fight, Mikey’s face swollen and bloody. He looked like the loser.
Mikey staying at 147 for the money fights
Vargas is a bad fight for Mikey. It’s not a BIG money fight for Mikey, and he would be giving away 4 inches in height and 3 inches in reach to Vargas. It’s a lose-lose situation for Mikey. He won’t make a lot of money, and if he gets beaten by Vargas, then he can forget about getting a fight with Pacquiao.
That’s obviously why Mikey is staying at 147. The money he can make in the welterweight division is A LOT more than what he would get at 140 or 135.
Hearn would be better off matching Mikey against a soft welterweight with marginal talent, because he’s going to have problems with Vargas’ size.
Mikey will be giving up size against Vargas
This could prove to be a difficult fight for Hearn to negotiate, especially if Mikey is holding out waiting to see if he gets the Pacquiao fight.
This is a risky fight for the 5’7″ Mikey, because the 5’11” Vargas would have a big height and reach advantage over him. Former two division world champion Vargas is currently fighting at junior middleweight. However, Vargas has only had ONE fight at 154, and that was against former 2 division world champion Humberto Soto last April.
That was a terrible size and age mismatch, as Soto is 39-years-old and a former super featherweight and lightweight world champion. Vargas should have been fighting a junior middleweight instead of an old lightweight.
Sources: A welterweight fight between Mikey Garcia and Jessie Vargas that would be streamed by DAZN has been discussed for the first quarter of 2019. Eddie Hearn has been pursuing Mikey for awhile now, and if he can sign him to a multi-fight deal, Vargas could be the first bout
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) November 26, 2019
Loss to Spence showed Mikey too small for 147
Mikey fought at 147 last March in losing to IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in Arlington, Texas. Spence looked like he fought at half speed the entire fight, and he completely outclassed Mikey.
The scores were 120-107, 120-108 and 120-108. The only round in which Spence seemed to press hard was in the 9th, and he had Mikey in SERIOUS distress.