By Brian Webber: Former four-division world champion Mikey Garcia took a lowkey approach to let his fans know he’s retired by displaying the information on his Instagram page rather than going public with an announcement.
The still young-looking 34-year-old Mikey let his fans know he’s retired on Instagram by changing the bio to this: “Retired World Champ.”
It was a low-key, humble method for Mikey to hang up his gloves rather than doing it in public with a speech and a big presentation the way many famous fighters typically do.
By taking this method of revealing he’s retired, Mikey (40-2, 30 KOs) is ending his successful 16-year professional career in a low-profile manner.
Mikey’s retirement is both surprising and disappointing because he still has plenty left to make big things happen if he were competing in the 126, 130, or 135-lb weight classes, which is where he should have been fighting in the last five years since 2017 instead of at 140 & 147.
What’s unclear is whether Mikey chose to retire via Instagram because he’s not sure in his mind whether he’ll return to the ring in the future.
If Mikey hasn’t fully decided in his mind whether the retirement will stick, it makes sense for him to hang up his gloves by revealing it on social media.
Instagram rather than making it public by giving a speech in front of a crowd. When you retire that way, it’s more challenging to come out of retirement.
Given Mikey’s passion for purchasing expensive cars, it’s difficult to believe that he won’t return to the ring soon to scoop up a pile of dough to fatten his bank account so that he buy more high-priced automobiles.
If Mikey chooses to come back, he needs to do it soon because the money he can command will drop by waiting until he’s in his late 30s or early 40s.
Also, with the way cars lose value quickly once they roll off the lot, Mikey would be better off focusing on real estate purchases rather than high-priced automobiles.
With the type of speedy cars Mikey has been buying, it’s impossible to appreciate them in the bumper to bumper traffic in Southern California. It’s pointless to own them because you can’t crank them up on I-5 or 405 in Southern California due to all the insane traffic.
With Mikey’s passion for purchasing expensive cars that lose value, it would be wise for him to return to the 135-lb division as soon as possible. At the same time, he’s still popular and can challenge champions Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Devin Haney for their lightweight titles.
Even if Mikey loses, he’ll make a lot of money that he can throw down on buying more high-priced cars if that’s still interest.
Mikey’s best wins in recent years were against a shot Adrien Broner, Sergey Lipinets, Dejan Zlaticanin, and Robert Easter Jr.
In 2019, Mikey challenged IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. for his title and was dominated.
