Since the beginning, Mikey Garcia has always said he is about taking the biggest challenges and cementing his legacy as an all-time boxing great.
After unifying the WBC and IBF lightweight titles with a wide unanimous decision victory over Robert Easter Jr., Garcia said he wants to move up two weight classes to challenge Errol Spence Jr. for his IBF welterweight title. Such an attempt could result in not only another world title for Garcia, but also a world title in five different weight classes, something only a handful of people, including Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, has ever done in history.
After the fight against Easter, Garcia was at the post-fight press conference where he talked to the media about his victory and future plans. Fightful was at the press conference and asked Garcia what it would mean to join that elite club of boxers to win a world title in five different weight classes.
“That’s why I’m trying to get that because there’s only a select few [to have won a world title in five weight classes]. Only the greats have accomplished that feat. I’m here in search of that and I’m not just trying to pick up a belt against nobody, against someone that just happened to be a champion. I’m going against the best, I’m trying to get the best fighter, the most dangerous man at welterweight. I’m trying to get that because I think it will cement my name and put that stamp of approval for everybody. No one else will be doing that, no one is doing that right now. There’s no other fighter in the world doing what I’m doing,” Garcia said.
Promoter Richard Schaefer then spoke to Fightful, repeating what he has said for weeks regarding Garcia’s insistence that he wants the biggest challenges out there.
“It’s as I said: Dare to be great, dare to be great. Very few do that [and Garcia is doing that],” Schaefer said.
Garcia has had quite the odyssey to get to this point, especially in the last 18 months. After a messy breakup with Top Rank, Garcia was out of boxing for two years, but returned in 2016. Garcia won the WBC lightweight title with a knockout win over Dejan Zlaticanin in January 2017. He since then beat Adrien Broner, defeated Sergey Lipinets to win the IBF junior welterweight title and now become a unified lightweight champion. Garcia has held a world title at featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and junior welterweight.
The press conference can be seen in the video above. Skip to 24:20 to watch Garcia speak to Fightful.
