If it was up to Cameron Dunkin, the boxing match between Mikey Garcia and Orlando Salido would not take place. As Garcia’s manager, Dunkin’s job is to maximize the financial opportunities of his client, without putting him at risk. But in pairing him with WBO featherweight champion Salido on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in his first crack at a title, Dunkin is pretty much doing the opposite.
“This is the kind of a fight that me as a manager, I try to stay out of the way for as long as I can,” Dunkin said. “Salido is a very, very dangerous fighter.”
But with his options limited and Garcia, 25, anxious for a title shot, Dunkin took the fight. And in a sport that rarely sees its young stars risk their undefeated records, Garcia stands out for his decision to make a splash and face Salido, who has won five straight, all by knockout. So against the grain and with much trepidation, the undefeated Garcia (30-0, 26 knockouts) will face Salido (39-11-2, 27 knockouts) on Saturday at The Garden’s Theater in the first truly big card of 2013 as part of a triple header that also features undefeated middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin against Gabriel Rosado on HBO.
“I tried,” Dunkin said of attempting to avoid Salido. “It’s not Mike. He’ll fight anyone. But I was trying to do something and it didn’t play out. Mike has wanted a title and this guy was available.”
That guy is one of the most dangerous and interesting fighters in recent memory. The last time Top Rank had a star in the making at featherweight, the promotional firm made the mistake of matching the previously undefeated Juan Manuel Lopez with Salido in 2011. Salido stopped Lopez in eight wild rounds. When they fought again last March, the result stayed the same with Salido stopping Lopez this time in 10 rounds. Despite those results, Dunkin and Bob
Arum of Top Rank believe that Garcia, a graduate of the Ventura (CA) County Police Academy, is capable of rising to the occasion and putting on a star-making performance.
“We’re very high on Garcia,” Arum said at a press conference on Thursday. “The question was: do we go after a title (against a soft boxer or do we) fight the best featherweight in the world and really establish him? Now, they can’t say, ‘Who did he beat? If he beats Salido, it means a lot.”
Garcia was supposed to take on Salido on Nov. 10 but Salido hurt his hand shutting the trunk of his car and the bout was scuttled. That’s one of several title fights that have fallen through for Garcia in recent years, Dunkin says.
“I’ve always wanted to prove myself and go after the best, even going back to my amateur days,” Garcia says of why he took the fight. “Bring it on. I welcome those challenges. And right now in the division there are some new champions that are very good but the media doesn’t consider them elite. People regard Salido as the best in the division, so I figure what better way to make a statement and make a mark then to go after the best and beat the best.”
While Arum doesn’t see the similarities between this fight and the bouts with Lopez, Salido said it was an apt comparison because in both cases he was underestimated.
“I think people see my 11 losses and they think I’m just another guy until they see me in the ring,” said Salido, who tested positive for the banned substance Nandrolone following a 2006 fight with Robert Guerrero and served a suspension. The fighters are following the state commission drug testing protocol for this fight and Garcia said he has confidence that Salido will come in clean. “That’s what happened with Lopez and this is what’s happening with Mike,” Salido went on, before adding: “He’s in for a learning experience.”
