A highly-anticipated fight between WBA featherweight titlist Celestino Caballero and Mikey Garcia is looking unlikely to happen, as a new development has put the bout in doubt. Let's go over this fight's history really quickly:
- In early May, Sampson Lewkowicz turned some heads by winning a purse bid for the fight. July 28 was reported as the date of the bout.
- A couple of weeks later, it was reported that July 28 was the date, with the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif., the venue, and Telefutura would be televising. I said then that the way it was playing out, "Garcia, Top Rank, and manager Cameron Dunkin are almost being dared to shoot this fight down and move on."
- On Friday, news came that the fight would be moved to September 7, and that Showtime had picked it up for a "special" ShoBox event on that Friday night. This was good news -- it made the fight seem a lot more likely. The fight was also moved to the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.
Today, though, Rick Reeno reports that Caballero has balked at this idea, fearing inactivity on his end, as he hasn't fought since December 31. The WBA has decided to side with him, and has moved the bout back to July 28 -- in Panama City.
In short, it is extremely unlikely that Mikey Garcia is going to go to Celestino Caballero's home turf and fight him on July 28. It's June 11. Once again, their side is being dared to shoot this down and move on, for whatever reason.
If Garcia goes to Panama on July 28, I don't want anyone questioning his marbles. His brains, maybe, but not his balls.
Steve Kim says on Twitter that if Garcia turns the fight down as most now expect, he could pair up with Orlando Salido or a double-header in July, which would happen in Mexico, and if both were victorious, they could fight in October. Salido is currently slated to face Mauricio Munoz on July 21 in Ciudad Obregon.