Mikey Garcia needs to return to 126 or 130-lb divisions

By Albert Craine - 10/17/2021 - Comments

Mikey Garcia looked chubby, small, and slow in losing to Sandor Martin by a 10 round majority decision last Saturday night in a fight at welterweight in Chukchansi Park, Fresno.

We saw a VERY old-looking 33-year-old Mikey losing to a guy [Sandor] that would very little chance against the upper echelon fighters at light welterweight.

Mikey looked like a textbook definition of a shot fighter, and he’s dreaming if he thinks he’s going to make big waves at 140. At this point, Mikey would likely lose to virtually all the top 15 contenders at 140.

Let’s face it, Mikey looked closer to 40 than his chronological age of 33, and it’s pretty clear that he needs to do something drastic with his career.

The fight showed what most boxing fans already know in that Mikey is too small to be fighting at 147 or 140.

Mikey’s one-sided loss to the European-level fighter Sandor Martin showed he’s not equipped to compete in the 140-lb division.

Mikey Garcia needs to return to 126 or 130-lb divisions

If Mikey can’t beat a fringe-level contender like Sandor, he’s going to be totally out of his league against Regis Prograis or Josh Taylor.

Sandor, 28, fights at 140, and he looked too big for Mikey, and he’s not one of the elite-level fighters in that weight class.  The best division for Mikey now is for him to trim down to 130 or ideally 126.

Last Saturday’s fight was Mikey’s third consecutive poor performance since he moved up to the 147-lb division in 2019.

It’s a clear signal, if it wasn’t already, that the 5’6″ Mikey is too small to be campaigning at 147 or 140. Even before losing to Sandor (39-2, 13 KOs), Mikey had looked out of his depth at 147 against Jessie Vargas and Errol Spence Jr.

After looking terrible against the shell of Jessie Vargas a year a half ago, Mikey (40-2, 30 KOs) should have moved back down to 135

If Mikey moves back down to 135, he can compete with these excellent fighters:

  • Ryan Garcia
  • Joseph ‘Jojo Diaz Jr.
  • Devin Haney
  • Vasily Lomachenko
  • Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
  • Jorge Linares
  • Richard  Commey
  • Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
  • George Kambosos Jr
  • Teofimo Lopez

The paydays would still be excellent for Mikey, as long as he’s trimmed off the fat and is staying active. It’s not going to work if Mikey sits inactive for 20 months, gains a bunch of weight, and uses his training camp as a fat farm.

What we saw from Mikey last Saturday, he would lose to the majority of the above lightweights because those guys are active, and they stay in shape between fights.

When Mikey was fighting at 126, he could get away with fighting the way he does with his low work rate and primary offense, consisting of 1-2 combinations. At 140 and 147, Mikey’s style of fighting isn’t going to work.

He’s too slow, doesn’t throw enough punches, and his power isn’t good enough to bowl offer the fighters in those weight classes.

If Mikey can get a good nutritionist and a physical trainer, he could make it back down to 126. He would stay away from the fast food and stay active.

Mikey Garcia needs to return to 126 or 130-lb divisions

At 130, Mikey would have these guys to fight:

  • Oscar Valdez
  • Shakur Stevenson
  • Jamel Herring
  • Miguel Berchelt
  • Roger Gutierrez
  • Shavkat Rakhimov

Super featherweight might not be low enough for Mikey to find the same success as he did in the past.

Unfortunately, Mikey will probably need to go all the way back down to 126 if he wants to get back to his winning ways.

At 130, Mikey would be out of his league against Valdez, Herring, Stevenson, Gutierrez, or Rakhimov. Those guys haven’t sat around for almost two years, eating fast foods, talking about cars, and not staying active.

Mikey can get back down to 126 if he wanted it badly enough and if he were dedicated to training and watching his diet.

4 thoughts on “Mikey Garcia needs to return to 126 or 130-lb divisions”

  1. People should now appreciate what Pacquiao did , capturing titles across 8 divisions.

  2. Mikey won’t be the same fighter we once knew by dropping to these smaller weight divisions. Of course he still packs a punch. But he wasted a lot of prime time when he was lighter, wouldn’t fight, trying to part ways with management, to go chase down bigger paydays at 147, and looked like a guy with concrete shoes. Over sized opponents, he got exposed, took some punishment, and more time ran off the clock to his career; he made no impact at 147, and pretty roughed up by Spence. We’ve seen the best of Mikey at any weight class. To go back to smaller divisions is to get out worked by younger, faster, hungrier fighters who will embarrass him. You got your big payday, time to get out of the ring.

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