It’s been seven years since Southern California native Mikey Garcia got to fight in front of his hometown fans, but Los Angeles will get to witness arguably Garcia’s biggest fight yet.
On July 28, Garcia, the WBC lightweight champion, will face off against fellow world champion Robert Easter Jr. in a unification bout at the world-famous Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Garcia has had many big fights throughout his illustrious career, from Orlando Salido to Juan Manuel Lopez to Adrien Broner, but Garcia has never had a world title unification. With his perfect 38-0 pro record and two world titles on the line, Garcia told Fightful in a recent conference call that having this fight take place in front of his friends, family and California fans makes the fight even more special than it already is.
“It’s a big fight for me. It’s a title unification, unifying titles at lightweight so that’s a big accomplishment, big fight for me. [Fighting in Los Angeles] does make it more special because it’s here and LA and Southern California is my home. I get a chance to give my local fans and the people who support me an opportunity to see me live for the first time in seven years. I’ve been fighting in Texas and New York and other states. It’s very special to be here. I got a lot of family, a lot of fans out here and friends who can’t make the trip to [those other states] but will definitely be here, so that makes it a little more special,” Garcia said.
The 30-year-old Garcia has not fought at the Staples Center since knocking out Rafael Guzman at the venue in 2011. But this will be the first time Garcia steps into the venue as a world champion and as only one of 17 men to win a world title in four different weight classes.
Fightful will have live coverage of Garcia vs. Easter, which will headline a Showtime broadcast, from the Staples Center. You can listen to Garcia’s comments in the video above.
