By Sean Jones: Trainer Robert Garcia has confirmed that his brother, former four-division world champion Mikey Garcia, will not be fighting 46-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an exhibition match on Showtime PPV on December 9th.
Robert says he spoke to Mikey and denied it, telling him that he’s sparring to stay in shape. Mikey retired in 2021, still young at 33, after his upset loss to Sandor Martin. It was a strange move on Mikey’s part because he could have made massive money if he returned to the 135 or 130-lb divisions.
Of course, you never know about something like this. Mayweather might want to keep it a secret that he’s facing Mikey on December 9 because he’ll want to set it up to where it’s a big announcement to create a huge buzz with fans.
Chris Algieri says that Mayweather is using his next exhibition event to hawk his new ‘Good Money Whiskey’ to the public on December 9th, so he’ll need a big name for him to get the maximum exposure to help him sell this stuff.
It won’t be nearly as effective for Floyd to fight another non-boxer as he’s done in six of his seven exhibition matches since he started doing these things in 2018.
Boxing fans have stopped paying attention to Mayweather’s exhibition matches because he never fights anyone with ability, and the matches are slow-motion affairs like his final professional fight against ex-UFC fighter Conor McGregor in 2017.
Mikey Garcia not fighting Mayweather
“I was getting text messages earlier today, ‘Mikey is sparring again. He hurt so and so with a body shot,'” said Robert Garcia to K.O. Artist Sports on whether Mikey Garcia is fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an exhibition match on December 9th on Showtime PPV.
“I said, ‘Mikey, are you serious about this?’ When the rumors about him and Mayweather, right away, I screenshotted it, and I sent it to Mikey, and I said, ‘Mikey, is that true?’ and Mikey said, ‘Nope, there’s no chance at all. I’m just doing it to stay in shape and not gain too much weight.’ So, that’s where we’re at right now.”
It makes sense that Mayweather isn’t using Mikey as his opponent for his exhibition match because he’s too young still, and he’d be dangerous for the 50-ish Mayweather unless he took it easy on him.
Mayweather is 46 but looks like a person in their 50s, and his hand speed is gone. If Mikey put any effort at all, he’d have Mayweather’s head spinning on a swivel and make him look bad. Mikey is a huge puncher, and he’d be a constant threat to knock Mayweather out if he didn’t take it easy on him.
“If something changes. I’m pretty sure we’ll be the first ones to know. Mikey isn’t going to try to do something without us knowing, but as of right now, it’s definitely a no,” said Robert. “Maybe if it changes, I’m pretty sure Mikey will let us know, but right now, Mikey says there’s no chance at all.”
Big fights
“People outside of boxing don’t know much about [Demetrius] ‘Boo Boo’ [Andrade] because he hasn’t fought too much. He was fighting a few years ago on DAZN, and not too many people were paying attention, but he’s talented,” said Robert about Demetrius Andrade, who is taking on WBC interim super middleweight champion David Benavidez on Showtime PPV on November 25th in Las Vegas.
“I remember him fighting on a few Top Rank cards where I know he could fight,” said Robert. “I’ve been a fan of his. Maybe he has a style that doesn’t catch the attention because he’s not a killer. He boxes really well.”
Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs) is 35 years old now and fighting in his third weight class against a fighter, Benavidez, who, in essence, is a light heavyweight parading at a super middleweight to take advantage of the smaller fighters. He’s basically a weight bully.
If the WBC had rehydration limits, Benavidez would be out of luck and would need to move up where he belongs at light heavyweight or cruiserweight.
“It’s not going to be easy for Benavidez. I think Benavidez is just too big for him, and eventually, he’ll start breaking him down,” said Robert. “I pick Benavidez, but it’s a very challenging fight for Benavidez too.
“I think Crawford will put up a better fight, but I think Crawford will go out and at least try to win. I don’t think he beats Canelo,” said Robert Garcia about his view that Terence Crawford will do a better job against Canelo Alvarez than Jermell Charlo did. He’ll try, but Charlo didn’t try.
“To me, Charlo just went out there to get a huge payday, but I think he can still come back and dominate in his division [junior middleweight]. We didn’t see him try, but I think Crawford will try. He’ll put up a better fight. He may get stopped [by Canelo], but he will put up a good fight,” said Robert.
Showtime’s exit from boxing
“When HBO did that a few years ago, that hurt,” said Robert, talking about Showtime being the latest network to leave boxing. “HBO and Showtime, those were the fights. If it was just regular HBO, regular Showtime, or if they did the pay-per-views, it was huge. It was All Access 24/7.”
As long as ESPN & DAZN continue to show boxing, the sport will still do well in the U.S., but obviously, it’s not a good thing that Showtime is doing away with broadcasting the fights.
If Amazon Prime starts showing boxing, it could make up a little for the loss of Showtime, but not if they’re only going to be doing PPV-level fights.
HBO & Showtime would broadcast non-PPV fights that helped create stars, but it’s not going to work well if Amazon Prime only puts on PPV events, which is one of the rumors.
“Nobody else had done that; nobody else is doing that. You don’t have the same,” said Robert. “HBO and Showtime are just different. Now, knowing that Showtime is out also, it hurts. It now gives us the question: where is boxing going? What’s happening to boxing?
“Are we going to get to where TV isn’t interested in boxing anymore, and we just have to go with independent pay-per-views or just gates? They do great gates with the $20 million gates, but that’s two or three a year. But then what happens with these local fights where they can do $200,000, $300,000 gates? Where does the money go? How much are the fighters going to make?”
You can’t just have fighting events that don’t receive any television whatsoever because, without TV exposure, the games will shrink in the U.S., and you won’t be getting the late gates of the past.
“It’s tough to know that the two biggest networks, Showtime & HBO, are not in boxing anymore, and we are involved in boxing; it puts us in the position of ‘What’s going to happen?’ What’s going to happen with ESPN next? What’s going to happen with DAZN? It’s tough. It does hurt,” said Robert.
It’s unlikely that ESPN & DAZN will exit boxing, but you never know. It would help if the promoters would put on more competitive fights and spoon-feed their fighters to make sure they don’t lose.
You’re not going to bring in huge ratings if fighters are matched against no-hopers like this Saturday’s Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou card on ESPN+ PPV.
That card is filled with mismatches, and there’s not much to watch other than the co-feature bout between two British heavyweights that are going nowhere. U.S. fans aren’t going to be excited about that fight, and the main event between Fury & the novice Ngannou is as awful as they come.
It’s sad this fight has been made, and the promoters are calling it a “game-changer,” which is a joke. Fans are being played for a fool.
