Mikey Garcia is on a roll. The undefeated Californian who sports a hugely impressive 37-0 record and who graces all current pound-for-pound lists, has already won recognized belts at 126, 130 and, most recently 135 pounds. Now, according to a breaking news piece from RingTV.com, Garcia will challenge newly crowned IBF 140 pound champ Sergey Lipinets in February.
“A source” told the website of The Bible of Boxing how the fight will go ahead on Feb. 10, the fight to go out live on Showtime. Garcia will be a heavy favorite to win his fourth belt. Lipinets of Russia is unbeaten at 13-0(10) and as those fans who have seen him in action know, he has an aggressive style that makes for good, watchable fights. But Garcia, with 30 KO’s of his own, is – or seems to be – on a whole other level.
Last seen easily beating everyone’s favorite love to hate figure in Adrien Broner, who Mikey decisioned in a catch-weight fight that took place back in July, Garcia still wants more glory. He should be able to grab some at the expense of 28 year old Lipinets, who is a year younger than Garcia.
The unbeaten IBF super-lightweight champ won the belt in November, when he decisioned Akihiro Kondo in an entertaining fight that took place in Brooklyn. Lipinets now has one tough maiden defence on his hands.
If Garcia does win, will he stay at 140, and if so, will this rule out, for the present time at least, a fight between Garcia and reigning, seemingly “unbeatable” P-4-P king Vasyl Lomachenko?
“Loma” seems headed to the 135 pound division and many fans have a desire to see “Hi-Tech” face Garcia at the weight. But now it seems Mikey has another fight in his immediate future. Just who Lomachenko will next face, if he does indeed invade the 135 pound waters next, is now up for grabs. Jorge Linares, who seemed close to taking a lightweight unification with Garcia, may now prove to be Lomachenko’s initial test at 135.