Vasyl Lomachenko wasn?t overly impressed by Mikey Garcia on Saturday night.
The WBO super featherweight champion watched Garcia out-box Adrien Broner, but nothing he saw would make him think twice about moving up from 130 pounds to 135 to face Garcia. Ukraine?s Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) discussed Garcia on Monday during a conference call to promote his WBO super featherweight title defense against Colombia?s Miguel Marriaga (25-2, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles (ESPN).
?I did see his fight,? Lomachenko said through a translator. ?His trainer, Robert Garcia, at one point mentioned Mikey Garcia is a fighter of ?A? class. I didn?t see anything during that bout where he was a Class-A, outstanding fighter. Yes, he won the fight. Yes, he did everything to win the fight, [the way] it needs to be. But I haven?t seen nothing outstanding. I haven?t seen him being an A-Class fighter. And it was slow. I almost got to sleep.?
Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) mentioned Lomachenko as a potential opponent before and after he beat Broner by unanimous decision in a 12-round main event Saturday night at Brooklyn?s Barclays Center. The unbeaten WBC lightweight champion has been applauded for moving up five pounds and soundly defeating Broner (33-3, 24 KOs, 1 NC), a former four-division champion from Cincinnati.
Todd duBoef, president for Top Rank Inc. (Lomachenko?s promoter), joined Lomachenko on Monday in downplaying Garcia?s performance.
?I saw the fight, believe it or not, and I didn?t think it was an incredible performance,? duBoef said. ?I thought he out-pointed Broner, but I didn?t think it was a scintillating fight. I mean, I thought he won the fight clearly. But I wasn?t saying, ?Oh, my God! The masses are clamoring for Mikey Garcia.?
?I?m being honest with you. I think he had a nice fight. He fought well. Broner wasn?t throwing a lot of punches and I thought Mikey did a good job. But a big name? A big name is Mikey Garcia now? I don?t see that.?
Garcia and Top Rank reached a financial settlement in May 2016 to end their promotional partnership, but Garcia has expressed interest in facing three Top Rank fighters ? Lomachenko, unbeaten WBC/WBO super lightweight champion Terence Crawford and Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao ? since he parted ways with Bob Arum?s promotional company.
?Mikey Garcia, after the fight, said clearly, ?Whoever is willing to fight on Showtime, come and I?ll fight you,? ? said Egis Klimas, Lomachenko?s manager. ?He?s already choosing a network. I think we?re in a different way. We would love to fight Mikey Garcia. It would give a big name to Vasyl.?
