Promoter Eddie Hearn questions whether Mikey Garcia will ever fight again after his shocking defeat at the hands of Sandor Martin last month in their main event clash on DAZN on October 16th at the Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California.
This was supposed to be a statement fight for the 33-year-old ring-rusty Mikey to prepare him for a mega-clash against Regis Prograis, but instead, he was schooled by Sandor for ten rounds.
Sandor is a former EBU light welterweight champion, and he’s not considered an elite-level fighter at 140.
On paper, he shouldn’t have been able to beat a fighter with Mikey’s background, but the fact that he did suggests that it could be over with for the Oxnard, California native.
The judges gave Martin a 10 round majority decision, but most boxing fans had a clear victory for the Spaniard.
It’s hard to guess what the judge was thinking that scored the fight 95-95 even, considering that Mikey looked like he only won two rounds at best, and that would be a situation where you were being generous. The other two judges scored it for Sandor 97-93 and 97-93.
Dan Ambrose had it 99-91 for Sandor. Mikey looked fat, slow, old, and shot to pieces. All the years of Mikey sitting around, eating, and not fighting seems to have eroded his boxing skills.
Moreover, Mikey doesn’t belong fighting at 140 or 147, as he’s too small to compete against the top guys in that weight class, who younger, faster, and just as powerful as him, if not more.
Hearn says he didn’t see the hunger from the former four-division world champion Mikey (40-2, 30 KOs) that he needed to defeat the 28-year-old Spaniard Martin (39-2, 13 KOs).
“I don’t know,” said Eddie Hearn to ESNEWS when asked what’s next for Mikey Garcia following his upset loss last October. “I’ve got to give credit to Sandor Martin because I thought it was a bad performance from Mikey.
“You’ve got to look at yourself and be big enough to say, ‘That’s not a good performance,'” continued Hearn about the effort from Mikey Garcia against the little-known 28-year-old Sandor.
What makes it even more unlikely that we might not see Mikey Garcia back in the ring again is the reality that he’ll probably need to take a pay cut from the money that he made against Sandor.
If Mikey expects to get millions fighting some unknown fighter in his next contest on DAZN, he could be sadly disappointed. Even if Mikey fights a top 140-pounder, it’s hard to justify that he deserves a huge purse.
Next money, Mikey will be turning 34 on December 15th, and that’s not young for a 140-pounder, especially one that has missed a lot of action since 2016. The inactivity, weight gain, and the fact that Mikey is fighting in divisions he’s too tiny for, it doesn’t bode well for his future.
“It worries me that there was no urgency in a fight that, even if you want to be really favorable to Mikey, it was like close,” said Hearn.
“I’m looking at the fight, and it gets to the eighth round, and I think, ‘He’s [Mikey] behind, he’s got to do something.’ But it wasn’t a guy that was fighting for his career, it wasn’t a guy that seemed bothered by a potential loss, and that means how much hunger do you have left? Do you know what I mean?
“It’s all very well saying, ‘It’s okay, it’s just a little loss. I’ll come back.’ He [Mikey] lost to Sandor Martin, and he wanted to come in and make a statement and have a mega-fight. You know him better than me. Do you think he’ll fight again?” asks Hearn to Ellie Setback.
“He’s a lot better than that, but let’s not take anything away from Sandor Martin. It was a good performance, very clever, tricky, but that wasn’t the Mikey Garcia that I’ve watched in the past,” said a worried-sounding Hearn.
Mikey probably will fight again, but it’s unlikely he will be successful if he’s going to be competing at 140. At this point, it’s hard to predict him getting back down to 126, 130 or 135, weight classes that he would have a decent chance of doing well.