Taking the fight to Top Rank
Garcia doesn’t regret going toe to toe with the promotional titan, even if it hurt career.
The last time Mikey Garcia was in a sanctioned boxing match, he was one of the top 10 fighters in the world, maybe even one of the top five. That was 21⁄2 years ago. Between then and now, Garcia saw a potential showdown with Manny Pacquiao evaporate while he was locked in a legal dispute with his promoter. The undefeated Oxnard fighter watched the likes of Terence Crawford leapfrog him on pound-for-pound lists. He went from being a future pay-per-view headliner to the opening act on an upcoming three-fight telecast Saturday from the Barclays Center in New York.
Whatever has been lost in stature and fortune over the previous 30 months, Garcia remains at peace with his decision to declare war on Top Rank, the Las Vegasbased promotions company that guided him to two world championships and promised to make him one of the sport’s brightest stars.
“That’s something I definitely had to do,” he said.
The stand might have cost Garcia (34-0, 28 knockouts) the opportunity to become one of the most recognized fighters of his generation. The 28-year-old will now attempt to prove that wasn’t the case, starting this weekend when he takes on former featherweight champion Elio Rojas in the co-feature on a card that will televised by Showtime.
“We admire that deci-
‘It’s not OK for somebody to push a fighter into a corner and strong-arm him to accept whatever the promoter wants . . . . You should not be taking advantage of anybody.’ — MIKEY GARCIA, on his lawsuit against Top Rank
sion,” said Garcia’s older brother and co-trainer Robert. Nearby, their father Eduardo nodded. Robert and Eduardo weren’t always on board with the plan. “There was a time when we said, ‘What the …? You’re stupid,’ ” said Robert, himself a former world champion.
By the standards of the sport, Garcia was one of the fortunate ones. He was designated a future star by Top Rank, the industry’s undisputed leader in developing fighters.
Garcia acknowledged this, pointing to the role the company played in the careers of Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Erik Morales and Pacquiao.
Top Rank was doing the same for him, offering him the right opponents at the right time. When Garcia challenged for the World Boxing Organization’s version of the 126-pound championship in January 2013, his opponent was Orlando Salido, a durable brawler who offered plenty of counterpunching opportunities. The slick but hard-hitting Garcia won a lopsided technical decision.
“Perfect,” Robert said of the matchmaking.
Before the end of the year, Garcia moved up to 130 pounds and claimed another world championship. Top Rank executive Carl Moretti said Garcia was viewed as a potential future opponent for Pacquiao, which would have earned him a career-high payday.
Problems emerged in early 2014, around the time Garcia and Top Rank started talking about a matchup against flashy 135-pound champion Yuriorkis Gamboa. Top Rank told Garcia it had the right to extend their contractual agreement. Garcia disagreed.
Garcia was particularly incensed that the terms of the contract would remain unchanged from a deal he signed before he was a world champion.
“It’s not OK for somebody to push a fighter into a corner and strong-arm him to accept whatever the promoter wants,” Garcia said.
He drew on the experiences of his father, a former field worker.
“You should not be taking advantage of anybody,” Garcia said. “I felt Top Rank was trying to take advantage of me and I finally had enough.” Garcia filed a lawsuit. “As the fighter, you’re the one getting in the ring, you’re the one risking injuries, you’re the one risking your life — not only on the day of the fight, but in training camp,” he said. “You’re getting punched, you’re training, you’re sparring. You have to make sure that it’s worth the risk — the compensation, the terms, the fights that you want. It’s your career. Why should you let someone else be in control of what you do? You’re the one taking all the risk. The promoter is not the one getting in the ring, the manager is not the one getting in the ring, the trainer doesn’t even get in the ring.”
But what about the possibility of a big-money fight with Pacquiao?
“They promise the Pacquiao fight to just about every fighter that they have,” Garcia said. “They dangle that carrot in front of you to accept certain fights or accept certain terms. It’s never a guarantee.”
Garcia said it also didn’t bother him that Crawford emerged as a top fighter after taking on Gamboa in his place.
The two sides agreed to part ways in April this year. While Garcia pointed to the settlement as a tacit acknowledgment of wrongdoing by Top Rank, Moretti argued that wasn’t the case. Moretti said the deal was on the verge of expiring even if a court had enforced the extension.
The case settled, Garcia will now have to answer what could be a more important question, which is whether he is still the same fighter he was before the layoff.
In his last two fights, which were contested at the 130-pound weight limit, Garcia was considerably more stationary than he was as a fleet-footed 126-pounder. His fight this week against Rojas will be at 140 pounds, after which he plans to campaign at 135.
“You don’t have everything that you do in the lighter division because, naturally, you’re heavier,” Garcia said. “You’re going to be slightly slower, but I don’t feel that’s going to be a difference that will affect the way I fight. I still think I have plenty of speed and footwork.”
While Garcia predicted his best days were still ahead of him, he admitted there were no guarantees.
But however the remainder of his career unfolds, Garcia said he has no regrets about what he did over the last 2 1 ⁄2 years. “It’s not just about the money,” Garcia said. “It’s about what’s right and what’s wrong.”