GARCIA WANTS TO FACE LOMACHENKO, SPENCE LIKES TO FIGHT MAYWEATHER
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 21 Dec 2017
Mikey Garcia believes Vasyl Lomachenko would accept an offer to fight against him. But Garcia said Bob Arum does not want that fight to happen. He told that to some reporters during a press conference in Los Angeles on Monday, when his fight against Sergey Lipinets was officially announced. Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs), the WBC lightweight champion will try to win a title in a fourth weight class when he challenges Kazakhstan?s Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) for the IBF junior welterweight title February 10 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
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?If he wants to move up to 35, we can definitely do that,? Garcia said. ?I know Bob won?t say anything positive about that. I don?t even know if Lomachenko is actually interested in facing me. The way I know Top Rank works, they?ll have somebody else in line for him to win a title at 35 or maybe even at 40. Most likely, he?s not gonna wanna face me because Bob won?t allow it.?
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Garcia was formerly promoted by Arum who claimed Lomachenko ?would make a joke? of Garcia after Lomachenko battered Guillermo Rigondeaux who quit on their December 9 encounter in New York. Garcia is sure Arum won't let Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) fight him even if the WBO super featherweight champion moves up to the featherweight division.
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?I don?t think he would allow us to fight,? Garcia said. ?I think Bob Arum has been doing business for 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 work, do business with me. But I know Lomachenko would take the fight, and I also would take that fight. So maybe down the road we could actually have that fight.?
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Garcia was not able to fight for 2? years due to a contractual dispute with Arum and Top Rank. The three-division champion from Oxnard, California, came up with a settlement with Top Rank in May 2016. He emerged as one of the top 10 fighters pound-for-pound. But Garcia is willing to reduce down to lightweight for a chance to fight the popular Lomachenko. ?I think I?d beat him,? Garcia said. ?I think my skills, my ability, my strength, my size advantage definitely helps me.
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Errol Spence Jr. thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. would fight again. The undefeated IBF welterweight champion told Sports Illustrated for an ?SI Now? segment. ?It?s in his blood,? Spence said. ?I mean, it?s something he?s been doing since he was 5 years old. So I think, you know, the spotlight, and just being under those bright lights, it?s like a drug to him. He?s addicted to it."
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"A guy like him, he?s been everywhere, he?s done everything, so I think, you know, just the regular life gets boring," added Spence. Just like with a lot of older fighters, they come back when they?re older and wanna fight again because, you know, just laying around the house, doing nothing, that gets old. He wants to train, he wants to work out, he likes the buildup to the fight. So he might come back. Usually they do. Most of them do.?
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The 40-year-old Mayweather has repeatedly said that his third retirement would be permanent and his 50th victory over Conor McGregor will be his final fight. If Mayweather comes back, Spence (22-0, 19 KOs) would be willing to grab the opportunity to fight him. "This is Floyd Mayweather?s era right now, so I definitely thought about it and that would be a great honor to fight Floyd Mayweather," said Spence.
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The 27-year-old Spence is preparing for his first title defense of his IBF welterweight title against former two-division champion Lamont Peterson (35-3-1, 17 KOs) of Washington, D.C. on January 20 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Last May 27, 2017, in front of 27,000 fans, Spence dropped and stopped Kell Brook to win the IBF title in the 11th round at the Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England.
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Golden Boy Promotions has almost secured the proposed rematch between Mexican idol Canelo Alvarez and WBA, WBC, IBF, IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. The fight is set for the Cinco De Mayo celebration of May 5, and Golden Boy is working it out that everything is finalized before 2017 ends. Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) and Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) first clashed in September at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and it ended in a controversial twelve round split draw.
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Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, said that Canelo gave them the go signal to finalize the rematch and they are only waiting for the answer from the Golovkin team, which they have been in always contact. "We are close, we are advanced, Canelo wants the fight, he gave us the green light to close the fight and there are important details we're working on to reach an agreement, and once that happens we will work on the contracts," Gomez told ESPN Deportes.
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"The focus is the rematch. That is what Saul wants, what the public wants, we are close, there are details that must be refined, two things that we are working on but we are close," added Gomez. The first fight earned over 1 million buys on pay-per-view and sold out the third largest gate in the history of Las Vegas. Due to the controversial outcome of the first match, they are expecting the second fight to get bigger revenues.
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"We will continue working until we reach an agreement, it is the most important thing for us, what Saul asked us to do, and we are working on those things. We working with the team behind Golovkin, Tom Loeffler is traveling to Germany, he's speaking with Golovkin and we are only waiting for his answer," Gomez said.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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