Following his opening press conference for his upcoming title fight, Mikey Garcia talks to reporters about all the noise surrounding a potential showdown with Vasyl Lomachenko. Check out what Garcia had to say about the fight and why he doesn't see it happening:
"Well I know that there's a lot of talk between the media and the fans - they wanna see [Lomachenko] fight bigger challenges. He's fighting smaller men and he, himself, doesn't give himself that much credit for fighting Rigondeaux, for the size advantage. Well I'm moving up in weight! Even though I'm champion at '35 I'm moving up in weight to fight bigger men because I do want that challenge.
"If he's ready to move up to '35, you know, we could definitely do that. I know that Bob [Arum] won't say anything positive about that, I don't even know if he's interested in actually facing me. The way I know Top Rank works, they'll have somebody else in line for him to win a title at '35, maybe even at '40. Most likely he's not gonna want to face me because Bob won't allow it.
"I don't think [Arum would let Lomachenko near me]. I think Bob Arum has been doing business so well for so long — the way he runs his business — that it's not in his best interest to face me with his fighters, whether it's financial reasons, or taking a loss, or whatever. I think he's not gonna be very excited to do business with me. But I know Lomachenko would take the fight, I would also take that fight so maybe down the road we could actually have that fight."
Garcia on how he sees that fight playing out:
"I think I beat him. I think my skills, my abilities, my strength, my size advantage definitely helps me. He's a great fighter, he's got great skills, but I wanna see him fight guys at least in his division. You know, other champions like [Gervonta] Davis or [Miguel] Berchelt, guys that are the same size and are very talented as well...
"I think [Lomachenko] still has a chance to beat these guys, like I mentioned, but they present a real challenge, not smaller guys."
On Lomachenko's aura of invincibility:
"Well he's gotta do what he's gotta do no matter who's in front of him. You can't deny the skills, you can't deny the speed or the footwork or the different angles. It's there. You see it. Whether it's a small guy or a bigger guy — he did it with [Nicholas] Walters too. So you can't deny that. But in order to give credit, or more credit, he needs to be facing bigger men, or at least men his own size, in his weight class to be able to get that credit..."