Mikey Garcia Lacks Charisma

01/26/2014 Paul Strauss

Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia 34-0-0 (KO 28) once again displayed excellent skills Saturday at MSG Theater when he dominated Juan Carlos Burgos 30-1-2 (KO 20) over twelve rounds to capture the WBO super featherweight. Burgos shook up Mikey once with a short left hook, causing Mikey’s legs to buckle, but he quickly regained control. Mikey was surprised more than he was hurt. Later he returned the favor by nailing Burgos with a hard shot. It affected Burgos enough to cause him take a more defensively minded mode, making it difficult for Mikey to catch up to him. As a result, the fight became much less exciting, causing fans to boo here and there.

Burgos wanted to use his height and reach advantage by staying out of Mikey’s range. Mikey tried to close in, but couldn’t land the clean combinations he needed to put Burgos away.

Garcia decisions Burgos; Jennings defeats Szpilka

01/26/201401/25/2014 Bill Phanco

WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia (34-0, 28 KO’s) failed to impress on Saturday night in defeating Juan Carlos Burgos (30-2-2, 20 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Madison Square Garden Theater, in New York, New York, USA. The judges had the fight scored at 118-110, 118-110, 119-109. Burgos hurt Mikey in the 2nd round with a left, and if he had a little more power and time left in the round, he might have finished Mikey off.

Burgos failed to go after Mikey when he had him hurt, and in the 3rd round he ended up getting hurt himself after taking a hard shot.

Mikey looked really uncomfortable with the size, and power of Burgos. When Mikey would come after Burgos, he’d get hit with a left hook and that would cause Mikey to freeze and then back up, as if he were being reeled in on a fishing line. It was not impressive stuff to see Mikey unable to walk though Burgos’ shots.

Garcia vs. Burgos: Is Burgos just a stepping stone for Mikey’s big plans for 2014?

01/24/201401/24/2014 Chris Carlson

Fresh off a banner year for boxing in 2013 this Friday and Saturday will be the busiest fight weekend so far for 2014. And since the rematch between Jhonny Gonzalez and Abner Mares is postponed due to injury this will also be the last major network (not HBO2 Macua) championship fight card until March, when the boxing year will really heat up.

Normally one of the major network premium channels will take advantage of the bye week on the Saturday a little over a week before the Super Bowl.

Shane Mosely vs. Antontio Margarito was the biggest fight that I recall of late that filled a void from the overdose of hype before the big game.

Arum wants Mikey Garcia in position to fight Pacquiao by end of 2014

08/01/201401/22/2014 Rob Smith

Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) may have run out of viable opposition in the 140-147 lb. class in his promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable, but the 82-year-old promoter is in the process of digging up a new opponent that he’s pooling from the super featherweight division in Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s), the WBO 130 lb. champion.

Arum wants to have the painfully thin Mikey move up in weight and get to the position where he can be a contender for Pacquiao by the end of 2014. In this way, Arum could scare up a new opponent for Pacquiao to fight.

Mikey Garcia – Juan Carlos Burgos Interview Transcript

01/16/201401/15/2014 Top Rank

Undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight champion and 2013 Fighter of the Year nominee MIKEY GARCIA (33-0, 28 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., and two-time world title challenger and current No. 1 contender JUAN CARLOS BURGOS (30-1-2, 20 KOs), of Tijuana, México, hosted an international Media Conference Call from their respective training camps on Tuesday. Garcia and Burgos are in the final weeks of training before their world title fight collision at The Mecca of Boxing — Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Garcia – Burgos world junior lightweight title fight takes place on Saturday, January 25 and will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will open with a 10-round battle between undefeated heavyweight contenders Bryant Jennings and Artur Szpilka.

Mikey Garcia says he’s willing to fight Yuriorkis Gamboa

01/15/2014 Rob Smith

WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s) says he’s willing to fight WBA interim lightweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-0, 16 KO’s) in the near future. Garcia wants Gamboa’s promoter 50 Cent to contact his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank to make the fight happen. HBO would definitely like to put that fight on their network, because they expressed interest in that fight in the past.

Instead of getting that fight, HBO will be televising Mikey vs. Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1-2, 20 KO’s) this month on January 25th at Madison Square Garden in New York. Burgos is coming off of two straight 12 round draws against recent Mikey victim Roman Martinez and Yakubu Amidu.

Mikey Garcia vs. Juan Carlos Burgos & Bryant Jennings vs. Artur Szpilka on Jan. 25th on HBO

01/06/2014 HBO Boxing

HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise begins 2014 with an all-action doubleheader featuring an intriguing junior lightweight title showdown when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK: MIKEY GARCIA VS. JUAN CARLOS BURGOS AND BRYANT JENNINGS VS. ARTUR SZPILKA is seen SATURDAY, JAN. 25 at 9:45 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT), exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: Jan. 26 (9:30 a.m.) and 28 (midnight)

HBO2 playdates: Jan. 26 (4:45 p.m.) and 27 (11:00 p.m.)

Rafael: Pacquiao is near the end; Top Rank wants Mikey Garcia as a PPV guy

01/05/2014 Rob Smith

This past week Bob Arum of Top Rank mentioned that he’s interested in having Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s), the current WBO super featherweight champion, facing his No.1 star Manny Pacquiao once Mikey moves up in weight in the future. The fact that Arum is talking about this fight tells you that we can expect that fight to happen very, very soon. Arum doesn’t have another pay-per-view presence in his Top Rank stable, and the 35-year-old Pacquiao is about the end of the line as a PPV guy in a year or two.

We’re already seeing Pacquiao’s PPV numbers diminishing with his last fight against Brandon Rios. Was that just an aberration as a result of Pacquiao fighting in Macao, China, or a signal that fans are growing weary of him?