Four-division world champion Mikey Garcia (40-1, 30 KOs) fought former WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (29-3-2, 11 KOs) in Frisco, Texas on February 29 and he finally got a win at welterweight after falling short against undefeated 147-pound champion Errol Spence Jr. back in March of 2019.
Garcia, 32, put on an impressive performance against the much bigger Vargas and made it look effortless.
The Oxnard, California, native who now trains out of Riverside, CA alongside his brother and trainer Robert Garcia, was able to hurt and drop Vargas who is known as a durable fighter.
Vargas has fought some of the best from Tim Bradley to Manny Pacquiao, and Garcia was the only one to really dominate him so much so that the commentators were guessing what round the ref would stop it.
Shortly after the win, Garcia acknowledged Vargas as a tough competitor and said he still wants to win a world title in the 147-pound division to become a five-division world champion.
One of the champions who is available and ready to go in the summer is 41-year-old WBA champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao who is looking for an opponent for his first title defense.
Garcia feels a fight between him and Pacquiao would be a great one and an honor.
“Look, I would love to get in the ring with Manny (Pacquiao),” Garcia said at the post-fight press-conference for his bout with Jessie Vargas. “It’s a fight that’s been mentioned and talked about for several years and now that I have a win in the welterweight division, I think people can actually consider me a viable contender. It’s been talked about for several years so I think with this victory it’s more accessible and I would love to fight Manny Pacquiao, he’s a living legend, I would love to share the ring with him.”
Garcia sparred Pacquiao when he was 17 years old and his brother Robert Garcia went against the Filipino ring legend twice as a trainer working the corners of Antonio Margarito and Brandon Rios, both fighters lost wide unanimous decisions to Pacquiao.
It seems everyone in or around the welterweight division is throwing their name in the mix hoping to land the Manny Pacquiao payday and a chance to catch the aging champion before he leaves the sport.
Pacquiao and his team would likely announce an opponent by the end of March so the Filipino Senator can have a proper training camp should he fight in June or July. Right now the top picks are Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, and Errol Spence Jr., but if Floyd Mayweather Jr. who recently announced he was coming out of retirement decides to give Pacquiao a rematch, he would take precedence over the others.
