By Dan Ambrose: Mikey Garcia (40-1, 30 KOs) will be fighting in May or June, with or without Manny Pacquiao. Trainer Robert Garcia says the former four-division world champion Mikey hasn’t signed anything yet for the fight with Pacquiao, but he’s training to get ready to fight him or someone else in the next month or two.
Mikey, 33, has been sitting on the shelf for the last 14 months since his hard-fought 12 round unanimous decision win over Jessie Vargas in February 2019.
All this time, Mikey has talked of wanting to fight Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), but it’s been a waiting game. Recently, Mikey sounded as if the fight with the 42-year-old Filipino star was on the verge of happening, but then nothing.
Most boxing fans would agree that Mikey should have returned to the ring last year in the summer, but he chose to sit and wait. Needless to say, it’s not helped Mikey’s career for him to be inactive, focusing ONLY of wanting to fight Pacquiao.
The perception that many boxing fans now have of Mikey is a fighter that is just looking for a big payday against Pacquiao before he hangs up his gloves.
Mikey training for May or June fight
“Right now he is training. I know that he wants to fight in May or June and if it’s against Pacquiao or not, he’ll be fighting,” said Robert Garcia to Fighthub.
“So if it’s not Pacquiao he will fight someone else and it will be sometime in late May or June.”
It would be a good idea for Mikey to find another opponent and stop this forever waiting.
It’s forlorn to see Mikey pinning his hopes on one fight with Pacquiao, looking needy, at the end of his career despite being the same age as Terence Crawford.
Mikey wastes his time with a single-minded pursuit of a fight that he arguably doesn’t deserve against Pacquiao. There are fighters that 147 who have worked hard, stayed busy with their careers, and done what they needed to rate a fight with Pacquiao.
“Still nothing signed, nothing official, no date, no nothing,” said Robert about Mikey’s hoped-for fight against Pacquiao. “As soon as something is finalized, I’m sure Mikey will let us know because, as of right now, Mikey’s training.
Then there is Mikey, who has just been looking to put together payday fights at 147 since 2019.
At 5’6″, Mikey is clearly too small for the welterweight division and doesn’t throw enough punches to make up for his lack of height. Pacquiao is also small at 5’6”, but he’s incredibly active with his punch output, which enables him to beat guys that are much bigger than him.
Mikey can’t fight like that because he doesn’t have the work rate, and he’s too calculated. It takes him seemingly forever to pick a moment to let his hands go, and then nothing happens.
When Mikey used to fight in the lower weight classes, he got away with having a low work rate because he was able t produce knockouts when he would land.
Unfortunately, Mikey’s power hasn’t carried up with him to 147, and he’s turned into another Adrien Broner with his low work rate.
Mikey STILL losing weight
Robert Garcia says Mikey has lost a lot of weight, but the last time this writer saw him on video, he still looked heavy, looking chunky around his face and midsection.
If Mikey doesn’t start losing weight soon, he may find it difficult to time down to 147 if he plans on fighting in May or June, as Robert says. With the weight that Mikey has been carrying for over a year now, it’s not going to be easy for him to lose that fat.
“Mikey’s lost a lot of weight already. He’s sparring; he’s getting ready, but nothing’s official yet, and in boxing, anything could happen.
“We could end up fighting somebody else; Pacquiao could end up fighting somebody else,” said Robert.