Miguel Angel Garcia Cortez (born December 15, 1987), best known as Mikey Garcia, is an American professional boxer. He is a three-weight world champion, having held the WBC lightweight title since January 2017; previously he held the WBO and The Ring magazine featherweight titles in 2013, and the WBO junior lightweight title from 2013 to 2014.
As of December 2017, Garcia is ranked as the world's sixth best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring; and seventh by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. He is trained by his father Eduardo and his brother, former world champion Robert Garcia.
Video Mikey Garcia
Early life and education
Miguel Angel's father, Eduardo, was an amateur boxer and trainer of world champion boxer Fernando Vargas at La Colonia Youth Boxing Club. His older brother, Roberto was a professional boxer and a former IBF Super Featherweight Champion who lost his belt to the late Diego Corrales. His oldest brother, Daniel, was a boxer and trainer. Miguel Angel graduate from Ventura County Police Academy. He has been featured on ABC's show American Latino TV and he talked about balancing studies with the demands of boxing.
Garcia has said he grew up in a "gang-related neighborhood" in Oxnard, California. Garcia said that his father immigrated from Mexico, and Garcia said that his parents were both strawberry pickers.
Maps Mikey Garcia
Amateur career
Garcia started his amateur career at the age of fourteen. In 2003, he won a silver medal at the National Junior Olympic Championships in the 125 lb division. In 2004, he won a gold medal at the National Junior Golden Gloves Championships and a silver medal at the National Police Athletic League Championships, both in the 132 lb division. In 2005, he won a bronze medal at the National Golden Gloves Championships and a gold medal at the National Police Athletic League Championships, both in the 132 lb division.
Amateur highlights
- 2003 National Junior Olympic Championships (Silver Medal, 125 lbs)
- 2004 National Junior Golden Gloves Championships (Gold Medal, 132 lbs)
- 2004 National Police Athletic League Championships (Silver Medal, 132 lbs)
- 2005 National Golden Gloves Championships (Bronze Medal, 132 lbs)
- 2005 National Police Athletic League Championships (Gold Medal, 132 lbs)
Professional career
Featherweight
Early career
Garcia is known as a patient fighter with good punching power, a natural right-hander who likes to switch to southpaw during some of his fights. He turned pro in 2006 and signed with Bob Arum's Top Rank. Garcia was undefeated in his first 20 professional fights with 17 of them coming by way of knockout.
In April 2010, Miguel Ángel beat the veteran Tomas Villa by T.K.O. in the first round, to win the USBA Featherweight Championship. He then beat Matt Remillard to win the WBO NABO Featherweight Championship. This would not only be the last boxing bout but also the last event Nick Charles would broadcast, Charles would die a few days later from cancer.
In his next fight HBO asked Garcia to turn down a world title shot against Billy Dib to fight on the undercard of Julio César Chávez, Jr. vs. Sebastian Zbik. After his win over Rafaël Guzmán, Garcia sent his well wishes to Genaro Hernández who was struggling with cancer, Hernández would die a few days later. Months later he beat Juan Carlos Martinez in under four rounds at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Garcia vs. Salido
Garcia's first major step up in competition came on January 19, 2013 against WBO Featherweight champion and Ring No. 1 ranked featherweight, Orlando Salido. In front of a near sell out crowd of 4,850 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Garcia dominated the bout from the very beginning, keeping Salido at range with the jab. Garcia knocked Salido down four times early on in the fight, building up a large lead on the scorecards. During the 8th round, Salido accidentally clashed heads with Garcia, causing Garcia's nose to break. The fight was stopped between rounds, with the decision going to the scorecards. Garcia won with the scores of 79-70, 79-69, 79-69 to win his first world title. Speaking of the headbutt, Garcia said, "I had the perfect fight going on. I was beating him up good, and then he drove his head into my face -- but it was accidental." Garcia earned a career-high $220,000 purse for the fight.
Garcia vs. López
Garcia was scheduled to make his first title defense against Juan Manuel Lopez in Dallas on June 15, 2013. Garcia failed to make 126 lb weight limit coming in two pounds overweight. He was stripped of the title. The fight went ahead after Garcia paid Lopez a penalty of $150,000 for missing weight. Garcia claimed the reason for not making weight was due to missing several days of training. On fight night, Garcia re-hydrated to 142 pounds, whilst Lopez weight 137.5 pounds on the HBO scales. In front of a crowd of 5,605 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Garcia dominated the fight from the opening bell, dropping Lopez in round 2 following a right straight hand. In round 4, Garcia landed a left hook to Lopez, knocking him down again. At 1 minute and 35 seconds of round 4, referee Raphael Ramos waved the fight off, giving Garcia the win. After the fight, Garcia said, "I was able to land my jab and stand pretty comfortable. When I knocked him down, that gave me confidence that I could put him out early." Garcia landed 53 punches, with 40 of them being jabs.
Super featherweight
Garcia vs. Martínez
On August 1, 2013 the WBO ordered their junior lightweight champion Román Martínez (27-1-2, 16 KOs) to make a mandatory defence against Garcia. On September 9, the date of the purse bid, a deal was set for the fight to take place on November 9 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The attendance was announced as 5,124. Garcia went down in the second round from a Martínez counter right hand. Garcia, however, recovered and dominated the rest of the fight before knocking out Martínez with a left hook to the body in the eighth round. Speaking off the knockout punch, Garcia said, "I thought it was a very good punch when I landed it. I felt I really hurt him, enough to where he wouldn't get up. I had a feeling it would be over after I connected." Garcia landed nearly half of his total 127 power punches. This included 52 punches landed in the last three rounds compared to 8 landed by Martínez. The victory meant Garcia became a two weight world champion.
Garcia vs. Burgos
On December 14, 2013 it was announced that Garcia would make his first title defense against mandatory challenger, 25 year old Mexican boxer Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1-2, 20 KOs). The fight was set for January 25, 2014 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on a live double-header on HBO Boxing After Dark, with Bryant Jennings vs. Artur Szpilka as co-main event. Burgos was known to have fought to a split draw with former champion Román Martínez on the Garcia-Salido undercard in January 2013. Garcia went into the fight with a 11-fight knockout streak. After being staggered in the second round, Garcia took control of the fight and won close to every round for the remainder of the bout. At the end of the fight, Garcia won via unanimous decision (118-110, 118-110, 119-109), improving to 34-0. Garcia landed 163 of 567 punches thrown (29%) and Burgos landed 89 of his 564 thrown (16%). In the post fight interview, Garcia admitted he had trouble at the start, "His height gave me difficulty. But I found my range and I found my distance and that was it." Burgos snapped Garcia's knockout streak which stretched back 4 years to 2010 and the fight also marked the first time Garcia saw out the 12 round distance. Garcia called out Yuriorkis Gamboa for a potential fight. The fight averaged 829,000 viewers and peaked at 911,000 viewers.
Contract dispute with Top Rank
Garcia had been unhappy over his purses, which had been increasing to career-high six-figure levels fight after fight, sued Top Rank in April 2014 to get out of the agreement. Although in arbitration with his promoter, Garcia had expressed plans of returning to the ring under a new contract with Top Rank. On October 15, Garcia vacated his WBO title. He was due to make a mandatory defence against Interim champion Orlando Salido. Garcia also cited difficultly in making the 130 pound limit, the main reason he vacated. On April 8, 2016, it was confirmed that Garcia and Top Rank, who were locked in a dispute over his promotional contract, had reached a settlement, according to Bob Arum. Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com. "All parties came to a mutual agreement, details of that agreement are a confidential matter. We all move on and do what we do." Although Garcia's Top Rank contract was up in August, they reached a deal.
Light welterweight
Garcia vs. Rojas
Top Rank announced on June 28, 2016, after 2 and a half years off, Garcia would be returning to the boxing ring against former world featherweight titleholder Elio Rojas on July 30 on Showtime in a 10 round bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on the undercard of Santa-Cruz-Frampton. This would be a one-fight deal with promoter Lou DiBella and Showtime. They met at approximately 138 pounds. The weight had not been contractually hashed out, however Garcia planned to move down with the hopes of challenging for a world title in the 135-pound lightweight division. Garcia scored four knockdowns, before finishing Rojas in the 5th round via knockout. Garcia hit Rojas face-first with a left hand and dropping him with a right uppercut-left hook combination. Rojas, who was only fighting for the second time in four years, beat the count, but referee Claudio waved it off at 2 minutes, 2 seconds. After the fight, Garcia said, "I think it was a very good performance. Even though I've been out for two-and-a-half years, people haven't forgotten about me. I did miss [boxing], but the time off helped me regain that fire." CompuBox stats showed that Garcia landed 53 of 162 punches thrown (42%) and Rojas landed 47 of 168 thrown (28%). Rojas came off a 23-month lay-off. The fight averaged 427,000 viewers.
Lightweight
Garcia vs. Zlati?anin
Garcia announced he would be fighting at lightweight to challenge undefeated WBC champion Dejan Zlati?anin (22-0, 15 KOs). Zlati?anin claimed the vacant title by knocking out Franklin Mamani in June and also holds decision victories over the likes of Petr Petrov and former multiple weight world champion Ricky Burns. The fight would take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and again serve as a co-feature to the anticipated rematch between Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz on January 28, 2017. Garcia stopped Zlati?anin in round three to win the title and give Zlaticanin his first professional defeat. The end came after Garcia hit a two punch combination starting with an uppercut which led Zlati?anin open for a final right hook which dropped him backwards on the floor, a knockout of the year candidate. The referee stopped the fight immediately. Garcia became a three-weight world champion with this knockout win. Garcia's purse for the fight was $375,000 compared to the $320,000 that Zlati?anin received. In the post fight interview, Garcia said that he would like to unify the division and also mentioned fighting undefeated Terence Crawford at light welterweight. Garcia landed 50 punches of 176 thrown (28%), whilst Zlati?anin landed only 16 of 60 (27%). The fight averaged 544,000 and peaked at 617,000 viewers.
Return to light welterweight
Garcia vs. Broner
On May 25, 2017 it was announced that talks were underway for a fight between Garcia and four-weight world champion Adrien Broner on July 29, 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A deal which would include a catchweight of 140 pounds, the super lightweight limit, with Showtime the likely network to broadcast the fight. On Monday 22 May, Broner was sentenced to 72 hours at the Kenton County Detention Center in Covington, Kentucky, on a contempt charge, after failing to make multiple court appearances. Garcia said he would be returning to lightweight after the fight, adding that the Broner fight was 'too good and too lucrative' to pass up.
If Broner missed weight, he would be fined $500,000. He said he would be more disciplined because he won't give up half a million dollars and claimed he had a reason to not miss weight. On July 20, 8 days before the official weigh in, Broner reportedly weighed 144 pounds and said that he would 'comfortably make weight tomorrow'. On July 21, the WBC announced that their Diamond light welterweight title would be at stake for the fight. Garcia weighed in a career high 139.5 pounds and more than Broner, who weighed 138.7 pounds.
Garcia won the fight by unanimous decision with the three judges scoring the fight 117-111, 116-112, 116-112. The fight started tentatively, with both boxers landing few punches in the opening round. But over the course of the fight, Garcia took over and by the championship rounds he was significantly outpacing Broner in punches landed and thrown. ESPN scored the fight 120-108 shutout win for Garcia. In the post fight interviews, Garcia praised his performance and Broner, "This is definitely one of my best performances ever. I think I controlled the fight in the early rounds and I kept the activity up. [Broner] is a great fighter who has great skills. I was the superior fighter tonight." Broner was humble in defeat, but stated that he had to catch Garcia,who he claimed was running, "It was a good fight. At the end of the day, I come to fight, I come to win and I put my heart on the line. It was Tom & Jerry - I had to catch the mouse."
Both fighters earned a $1 million purse for the fight. CompuBox statistics showed that Garcia was the more active boxer, landing 244 of 783 punches (31%), Broner landed only 125 of 400 thrown (31%). Garcia threw over 200 punches in the last four rounds alone, trying to get the stoppage win. Garcia said he was open to any boxer coming over to showtime, whether that be at 135, 140 or even 147 pounds. The fight drew an average 881,000 viewers on Showtime and peaked at 937,000 viewers, making it the most watched fight on Showtime since Deontay Wilder defeated Bermane Stiverne to win the WBC heavyweight title in January 2015. That fight drew an average of 1.24 million.
Garcia vs. Lipinets
In early September 2017, Garcia took to social media and called out four-weight world champion Miguel Cotto for a fight in December, possibly being Cotto's final fight. Garcia's trainer and brother Roberto explained that it was his friend Rudy Hernandez who first mentioned taking Mikey up to 154 pounds for a one off fight. On September 21, he reiterated his desire to move up to 154 to be Cotto's final foe. Cotto's trainer was also open for the fight to take place. Robert Garcia explained if Mikey is unable to land a fight with Cotto, he could potentially fight Robert Easter Jr. in a unification fight in December. On October 5, the WBC ordered a fight between Garcia and Jorge Linares (43-3, 27 KOs), as Linares holds the WBC Diamond title, in addition to the WBA lightweight title. Garcia commented on Twitter that the Cotto fight couldn't happen as Golden Boy Promotions required him signing an exclusive long-term contract with them in order to make the fight. Garcia also mentioned that the fight with Linares wouldn't happen before the end of the year as Linares was unavailable on December. Lance Pugmire reported for the Los Angeles Times that Garcia would most likely return on December or January against Robert Easter Jr.. Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy sent out a message to Garcia stating if he wanted the fight with Linares, it could be made, without any add-ons to the contract. Garcia later replied, "No need to put it out [in] public. You also have my number, I'll call you later bro." Gomez later announced that Garcia had rejected their offer for the fight with Linares, despite Golden Boy meeting his terms. Garcia said he had received a more lucrative offer. He said, "I have more options, in fact [...] the guaranteed purse is better[...] just as Golden Boy is looking to do what's best for their company, I am also looking to do what's best for me."
On December 14, 2017 RingTV.com announced that Garcia would next challenge recently-crowned IBF light welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) on February 10, 2018 on Showtime. According to early reports, the fight was likely to take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. WBC president Sulaiman announced that Garcia would keep his lightweight title regardless of the result. On January 17, 2018 it was reported the fight would be postponed due to Lipinets suffering a hand injury whilst in training. Lipinets co-manager, Alex Vaysfeld stated the hand injury occured in December 2017 and Lipinets had begged him not to postpone the fight. A doctors report suggested he could be out for a month. A few days later, the fight was rescheduled to take place on March 10. The bout would remain in San Antonio, however the Freeman Coliseum was announced as the new venue.
Summit for brain health
In February 2014, Garcia, along with Bernard Hopkins and a few other athletes, attended a summit at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at the United States Capitol, in support of furthering research of preventing brain damage and other mental risk in competitive activity. The summit consisted of speeches about preventing brain damage and research to aid already suffering victims.
Professional boxing record
Filmography
See also
- Notable boxing families
References
External links
- Professional boxing record for Mikey Garcia from BoxRec
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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