WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia 38-0 (30) has shocked the boxing world by announcing his plan to move up two weight classes to challenge IBF welterweight champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr 24-0 (21) later this year.
The 30-year-old Garcia, who faces IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr 21-0 (14) at Los Angeles’ Staples Center this Saturday night, made the comments in an interview with The Player’s Tribune published this week.
“If everything goes well in this upcoming fight in a few weeks, I really want to move up to welterweight and challenge for the welterweight title against the number one champion right now, an undefeated champion in Errol Spence,” said Garcia, a four-division champion who has won major versions of world titles at 126-, 130-, 135- and 140-pounds.
Garcia is under no illusion that it will be an easy task. The undefeated Spence , 28, is a powerfully built southpaw currently riding an 11-fight knockout streak that he will be confident of keeping alive against the naturally smaller Garcia.
Even his own family is apprehensive about his plans.
“[Spence is a] strong, big, dangerous fighter. Everybody tells me not to take that fight – everyone,” Garcia said. “My dad and my brother also believe I have enough to take the fight and win, but it’s a very, very risky fight. So they suggest I should wait, don’t take it right now. There’s no need to take it right now, why take it right now? Go after the other guys, you don’t need to go to welter. You can take on guys at 135 or 140 where you’re a little more comfortable.
“But that doesn’t excite me anymore. I want the toughest opponent available and that happens to be at welterweight. The biggest challenge for me, that’s why I want to take it.”
Garcia revealed that his father always wanted a multi-division champion in the family and now that he has achieved that, he believes he can go one better.
“I think the whole world is finally going to be like ‘Wow, this is no joke, there’s no denying this kid is the best on the planet’,” he said.
A key driver for Garcia is something that can’t be measured by world title belts alone. He wants universal recognition as the world’s best; nothing short of boxing immortality will satisfy him.
“These are the fights that are going to cement my name forever,” Garcia said. “These are the kind of fights that are going to cement my name for the ages. I’ll be retired after accomplishing all that, and that’s going to leave a mark. That’s want I want. Make sure my name is going to live on for years and years to come.
“They’ll name Ali, they’ll name Tyson, they’ll name De La Hoya, Mayweather, Pacquiao, Mexico, Chavez, but there’s hundreds of other champions who people don’t remember.”
In a world dominated by boxers obsessed with protecting their undefeated records, it’s refreshing to hear Garcia’s definition of what it means to be a true champion.
“A world champion is when the world acknowledges you and admires you and appreciates you and tells you ‘you’re a world champion’. When the whole world [tells you] – not just the title. The title by itself doesn’t do that for me,” said Garcia.
“What matters for me is what the people have to say and their opinion.
“I’ve already been champion four times. Four divisions. But I still value the peoples’ opinion more. I value that over the titles. And that’s why I’m doing it. That’s why I want these kinds of fights.”
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