Garcia grateful to be one of the last fights before COVID-19
One of the last big fights before the COVID-19 pandemic that froze live sports involved the return of former four-division champion Mikey Garcia into the ring. In that contest, Garcia, in his second bout at welterweight, hung on to outlast Jessie Vargas in a match where Garcia took over the second half of the fight, which closed out the month of February.
Garcia speaking Eddie Hearn during an Instagram Live interview on Friday mentioned that he was glad his return to the ring was one of the last live events we saw.
View this post on InstagramWe go again tomorrow on IG with a great line up! See you then ??
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“I’m real fortunate to have been able to fight right before the whole crisis,” Garcia told promoter Eddie Hearn during an Instagram Live interview on Friday. “It’s really hard for the other fighters with all these fights getting moved or postponed.”
Speaking with Hearn, Garcia reflected on the fight he had with Vargas, which was his first bout back after nearly a year layoff from the one-sided decision loss against Errol Spence. Garcia had mentioned that Vargas came prepared to win and that it was a tough contest for him.
“He came to win, he was probably the best Jessie Vargas of his career,” mentioned Garcia. “Even though he had a size advantage and reach advantage, I was able to overcome that and was able to win.
It’s well-known that Garcia, as a welterweight, is on the small size of the spectrum, and Vargas was coming into the fight was the bigger fighter. The match played out that way early on back in February until Garcia made the adjustment and broke Vargas down.
Garcia is hoping that the win will put him back in the mix with the others at welterweight and has mentioned and thrown his name in against future Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao or a return rematch against Errol Spence.
“I want to prove I can do that against other welterweights,” Garcia said.
We’ll see where he shakes out once live boxing is back in full swing, but clearly, a big name is what Garcia is aiming for once it resumes.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
