Mikey Garcia stopped Juan Manuel Lopez in four rounds scoring a TKO from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Garcia dropped Lopez twice before the referee saw enough and waived it off.
The biggest loser Saturday night was Mikey Garcia after losing his belt on the scale for failing to make weight being two pounds over the featherweight limit. Garcia had two hours to get to 126 but he didn’t want to try, instead he paid $150,000 to Lopez for the extra weight.
Not making weight in boxing should not become a normal or acceptable behavior.
Before all you Garcia fans get offended, I am not saying the two pounds gave Garcia an edge. Garcia won the bout in convincing fashion. Each jab Garcia landed seemed to snap Juan Manuel’s head back with real force.
My point is that failing to make the contract weight shows Garcia’s lack of professionalism and I am sure it will haunt him going forward. Robert Garcia is starting a trend with his fighters not making weight.
A fighter not making an effort to lose weight is displaying a tremendous lack of respect for his opponent, himself, the fans and the sport of boxing.
Interestingly enough, immediately after the fight Garcia said he could make the featherweight limit again if he had to. HBO’s Max Kellerman then asked Garcia, “If that is the case, then why didn’t you make the weight this time around?” Garcia responded by saying that he was sick during training camp and that it disrupted his dietary plan to make weight.
This growing trend illustrates a worrisome lack of discipline among titleholders that is now often becoming the accepted norm in the sport today. It is unacceptable and quite frankly, extremely dangerous. Recently, many of boxing’s premier fighters such as Adrien Broner, Brandon Rios and now Mikey Garcia have refused to make weight for upcoming title defenses. Their respective challengers were paid handsomely to look the other way and go ahead with the fight. In each instance, the overweight fighter emerged victorious via vicious knockouts. That is not to say that the same outcome would not have occurred had the fighters mentioned made weight in the first place.
If two pounds are not that much of a big deal, then why have light and junior weight divisions?
Mikey Garcia’s next fight could be for another world title as he is being pushed toward a September bout with super featherweight titlist Rocky Martinez. Let’s just hope he makes weight.