Mikey Garcia vs. Sandor Martin this Saturday, Oct.16th live on Dazn

By Boxing News - 10/11/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Mikey Garcia will be making his annual tune-up fight next Saturday, October 16th, against Sandor Martin in the main event on DAZN at the Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California.

This is supposed to be a warm-up fight to get the former four-division world champion Mikey (40-1, 30 Kos) ready for a quality opponent in 2022, but we’ll have to see if it plays out like that.

There were previously plans for the 33-year-old Mikey to take on the highly ranked 140-lb contender Regis Prograis. Still, the money reportedly wasn’t there to match the massive $7 million payday that Garcia received for his last fight against Jessie Vargas in 2020.

It’s hard to justify Mikey getting the same kind of money that he received against Vargas, given the pandemic and the long, long period of inactivity.

When fighters have fought as seldom as Mikey has in the last seven years, they drop out of the public eye and are forgotten by fans. I mean, it’s been many years since Mikey won a meaningful fight against a quality opponent.

You can’t count Jessie Vargas as a meaningful fight because he’s shot to pieces and hasn’t been relevant in the 147-lb division since he was trounced by Manny Pacquiao in 2016.

Image: Mikey Garcia vs. Sandor Martin this Saturday, Oct.16th live on Dazn

If last year were 2016, Mikey would have done well in selecting Vargas as an opponent. But with the way things were, it looked like a cherry-pick move by Mikey picking Vargas, a fighter well past his prime and no longer talked about by boxing fans.

The 28-year-old Spanish fighter Sandor Martin (38-2, 13 KOs) has been fighting no-name opposition in his home country for the last ten years and not doing a lot to take his career to the next level.

Boxing fans won’t mind Mikey taking another tune-up fight against the little-known Spanish fighter Sandor Martin as long as his next one comes against a live body.

With the pandemic going on, it’s challenging to put great fights together for fighters that large caught a cycle of inertia, particularly if they’re looking for unrealistic purses.

Mikey’s career could have been so far advanced in the last seven years if he’d made the right choices by staying at 135 to fight Vasily Lomachenko.

Other than his one-sided loss to Errol Spence Jr. and the well-paying tune-up that Mikey got against faded over-the-hill veteran Jessie Vargas last year, he’s done with his career since 2018.

Mikey’s career has slowed down since 2019, with him fighting just once a year and not getting the most of the little time left. He wanted a fight with Manny Pacquiao, but the Filipino star chose to take on the more active Yordenis Ugas for the final battle of his career.

Sandor Martin’s recent wins

  • Kay Prospere
  • Nestor Maradiaga
  • Joe Hughes
  • Andrea Scarpa
  • Sandro Hernandez
  • Mauro Maximiliano Godoy

Sandor Martin lost to Anthony Yigit in 2017 and Alexandre Lepelley, which shows he’s not a great talent.

Mikey should win this fight without any problems, but he won’t get a lot of credit from boxing fans in the U.S. They’ve never heard of Sandor Martin, and they’re wondering why Mikey is fighting this guy.

DAZN approved it, so that suggests they’re on board with Mikey continuing to take tune-ups. If you’re like a network guy, you’re probably wondering when Mikey will start fighting quality opposition once again.

Mikey can’t use the excuse of inactivity as a rationale for facing a weak opponent like Sandor Martin.

Look at Tyson Fury. He hadn’t fought in 20 months and looked like an out-of-shape truck driver coming back last Saturday night to stop Deontay Wilder in the 11th round. If Fury was willing to fight a quality opponent after a year and a half layoff, Mikey should too.