Mikey Garcia Talks Jessie Vargas!
It’s been nearly a year since multi-weight world champion and previously unbeaten Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30KOs) has been in the ring.
In his last ring outing in March of 2019, Garcia went up two weight classes to challenge unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr (26-0, 21KOs). He was a huge underdog heading into that match-up. Still, the fight played out pretty much how most people thought it would. Spence dominated from beginning to end, handing Garcia his first career defeat.
Now with that all behind him, he will attempt yet again to notch his first win at welterweight. To do so, he must get by the very experienced and tough former two-division world champion Jessie Vargas (29-2-2, 11KOs) on February 29 in Dallas, Texas.
Speaking to SecondsOut, Garcia went into depth on why he chose Vargas as his opponent.
“I mean look, originally we looked at other names, possibly 140 pound division, but the names were not available for the time that we needed and we looked at other options at 147. I clearly eliminated some of the names because they were not exciting enough. They’re not what I wanted.
Jessie, I think he fits perfectly. I think he’s a solid opponent, solid contender former welterweight world champion. I think he has all the elements that I need in front of me to prove myself and prove to everybody that I can be a contender.”
While Garcia heads into this match-up a clear favorite, Vargas is a live underdog with the height and natural size advantage.
It’ll be interesting to see how he fares in his second welterweight fight against a different type of fighter from Errol Spence, but potentially just as dangerous depending on Garcia’s comfort level.
SEARCHING FOR THAT BAG, MAN!!
If all goes according to plan with Vargas, Garcia has every intention of moving on and up to bigger and better prizefights. In fact, if given his preference, Garcia would jump at the chance to face the pugilistic politician Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KO’s).
“If that fight is offered to me, I am definitely going to explore that deeply and try to secure fight with Manny [Pacquiao]. It’s a fight that we’ve been, you know, wanting for several years now. There’s been a lot of conversations about a possible fight between Manny and myself and if this fight Saturday night opens that door even closer to achieving that fight and accomplishing that fight, then I’m definitely going to take that! So yeah, part of the reason that I am at 147 is because there are bigger fights at 47 right now that I can get into. But I am not ruling out the opportunities to come to 40. I’ll be flexible and whatever is available that makes sense for me that’s what I’m going to take.”
Yet, first things must come first. Before Garcia can start duking it the best at 147 and 140, he first has to overcome Jessie Vargas. So stay tuned to 3kingsboxing to see how this main event prizefight ultimately pans out!
By: Jerrell Fletcher & Bakari Simpson
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