Robert Garcia, brother and trainer of WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs), does not believe Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum would ever allow WBO 130-pound champion Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) to get in the ring with Mikey.
Garcia returns on Saturday night, as he moves up to the junior welterweight division to face four division champion Adrien Broner, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The fight is the biggest assignment in the career of Garcia, who in January became a three division champion with a vicious third round knockout of Dejan Zlaticanin.
A win over Broner will open up a lot of doors, including potential fights at 135-pounds with Jorge Linares or Lomachenko.
Lomachenko returns next Saturday night, when he defends his title against Miguel Marriaga.
If both fighters win their bouts, Robert just doesn't see that fight coming together, because he believes Arum and Top Rank will look to go in another direction.
"Beating Broner will put Mikey in a great position not to chase anybody. Mikey is going to be the fighter to be chased, everybody is going to want to fight Mikey. Lomachenko has said in the past that he would like to fight Mikey, and Mikey would move to 135lbs again if it’s for Lomachenko or maybe Linares. Those are the only two fighters that Mikey would come down to fight and it would have to be in December," Robert Garcia told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
"Mikey is fighting in July and Lomachenko is fighting in August, so it would be perfect timing and none of them would have to do any fights besides that. Lomachenko is a fighter and he’s a warrior and he will fight anybody, but I know that Top Rank would never allow Lomachenko to fight Mikey. We’re not even looking forward to a Lomachenko fight because I don’t think Bob Arum would allow him to take that risk. More likely what we’re going to see is Mikey moving up to 147 and challenge any of those top welterweights in that division."
2023-10-19 00:55:42
