When I think of Mikey Garcia, not while I?m watching one of his fights but the sum of him, the image of his confident face, his balanced body, an aura of peace within, I see sepia tones, those more interesting grains and shadings of black-and-white film. I refuse to equate old-school with better, and believe many old-school goods, if not greats, would get schooled by boxing?s modern talent, but old-school has other connotations, not attached to individual fighters but to skills that are classic, that point to classic boxing, which, like black-and-white film, contains subtlety and grace and lines that are often sharper, often more complex.
There?s nothing flashy about Mikey Garcia, but that doesn?t mean he?s a blue-collar, lunch-pail fighter. There?s none of the posturing, the shouting out, the cultivated media strategy to help elevate his name. Like a classical hero, he seems to know himself, seems secure in his self-knowledge precisely because he has perfected the classical art of boxing. His footwork. His punches. His demeanor. His ability to gauge and adapt. He has boxing pedigree, a bloodline of fighters past. And he?s the culmination of his family?s boxing legacy, the best fighter in the Garcia clan, not only destined for the IBHOF, which sometimes doesn?t take much, but destined for long-lasting respect.
When the book is finally closed on Mikey Garcia?s career, his fight with Errol Spence, Jr. will not be a defining chapter. Mikey is giving away 2 years, 4 inches, and, on fight night, he?ll be giving away too many pounds. While great smaller men can overcome good bigger ones, March 16th?s bout pits two elite-level fighters and Spence?s size will prove too much. The mass part of Einstein?s equation will punch in during the middle rounds and physics, in the form of Spence, will beat Garcia up if not down.
Character-kudos should go to Garcia for stepping into the ring with Spence, for agreeing to this pugilistic challenge. Practical kudos, probably the more powerful motivation in this fight, to Garcia for the money he?ll make fighting in front of a packed AT&T stadium against hometown hero Spence. The former featherweight champion from southern California will take some hard knocks and he may even get knocked out. Against Adrien Broner, Garcia displayed dominant skills against a bigger man, but in the twelfth he was rocked by Broner. Broner, who looked like a potential great early on but whose classic bully personality was uncovered when he started facing real tests, reserves his strength until the end of his hardest fights and, at the end of the Garcia bout, he used his strength to stun. Garcia knows how to protect himself at all times, even when hurt, as classic, skillful boxers do, and he got through the final round with Broner, got his hand raised. Broner is no Spence. Spence will hurt Garcia earlier. He?ll hurt Garcia more. The undefeated Garcia will lose his undefeated 0.
This result is expected. Unlike Floyd Mayweather, who valued his ?flawless? record above all, believing his meaningless 0 (which includes a McGregor) will etch his name more deeply into history than if he?d fought tougher fighters and lost, Mikey Garcia understands the meaning of real legacy. The greatest fighters, almost all classic boxers, have imperfect ledgers but names that supersede empty zeros.
The real test for Mikey Garcia, the defining chapter in his book, and a defining chapter, I believe, for the art of boxing, will be (if it ever happens) Garcia?s fight with Vasyl Lomachenko.
Garcia/Lomachenko is a fight that should be made, the kind of fight that, if it reaches those cathartic peaks and valleys of give-and-take brutality, could help define our current boxing era. And these two men have the right ratio of similarities and differences to create a potential masterpiece. Garcia and Lomachenko are close in size and so the contest would be viewed as a pick ?em fight (unlike the 4 to 1 odds for Garcia/Spence?the bookies usually get it right). Each man won his first title at featherweight. Each man has been nurtured from an early age to box. If, as some believe, nature is more powerful than nurture, each has boxing in his blood (Anatoly Lomachenko, Vasyl?s father, fought as an amateur and coached the Ukrainian amateur team).
Yet the distinguishing characteristics of these two men, how their fight styles define them, not only make their potential match-up intriguing but consequential. On an almost-symbolic level, this fight would showcase two very different takes on the art of boxing. Mikey Garcia?his fighting style, his demeanor, the way his career has been built?represents the classic boxing tradition. He fought thirty prize fights before he took his shot at a world title, the WBO version of the featherweight belt. That fight was against veteran Orlando Salido. The venue for the fight was the most classic arena, Madison Square Garden. The fight itself was a classic, methodical beat-down. Garcia won the title, knocking down Salido four times, building a lopsided points advantage before the bout was stopped after eight when Salido?s head shattered Mikey?s nose. This win began a run of seven title-fight victories, all against solid opponents, with the highest weight at super-lightweight. Garcia?s leap into the 147-pound class against Spence will be a giant one, not only because it?s a move up in weight (this is not a Rocky Fielding test) but because it?s a fight against an excellent welter whose frame will inevitably inflate to middle.
Vasyl Lomachenko is not a hands-up, straight-punching, classic fighter. His legs are his greatest asset, his constant and angled movement, and his conditioning is superb. At the start of one training camp, his manager Egis Klimas reported that Loma dove into an Olympic-sized pool and swam an underwater lap with ease. That?s before Loma started his more rigorous preparations, before he got into fighting shape. Lomachenko?s skills were forged in the amateur ranks. He was a two-time Olympic gold-medal winner, rewarded for his speed and connect percentage. His training included dance classes at an early age. Boxing is indeed a canvas dance, a more beautiful sport than other combat sports that are less aesthetically-pleasing, more grunt-filled and sloppy-looking. Loma?s boxing upbringing contained literal choreography. Taking his son out of boxing for four years and putting him into dance classes was part Anatoly Lomachenko?s grand design to create the most fleet-footed, coordinated fighter. For the professional part of the grand Loma-plan, Vasyl took his astounding 396-1 amateur record into the pro ranks, then cranked things into over-drive and fought for the title in his second pro fight. While he lost a close decision to Salido (Garcia and Lomachenko?s only common opponent beside Roman Martinez?both men knocked Martinez out), the rest of Loma?s professional career, if career is the right word for a sum-total of thirteen pro fights, has been impressive. The Lomachenko plan has garnered excellent results (though perhaps too-excellent reviews), but the blueprint to his success has been less-than-classical. There?s a reason Lomachenko?s ring name is ?Hi-Tech??he?s shooting for new, for ultra-updated. Mikey Garcia has no ring name. He is who he is. I can?t picture Mikey Garcia moving across a real dance floor. I can only picture him, mostly in black and white, moving across a well-worn, blood-stained canvas.
If the fight happens, it will be a symbolic battle between classical boxing in the form of traditional Garcia and something else in the form of high-tech Lomachenko.
Garcia will assume the classic boxer?s stance. He?ll deliver classic, textbook punches. He?ll put in the work to try to break down Loma, to slow those fast feet, to capitalize on the openings Loma will provide. And Loma does provide plenty of openings, which is the flip side of an improvisational fighting style. Lomachenko?s non-classical moves may awe and surprise, but too often there?s a split-second opening that follows, and, if exploited, a potentially devastating price to pay. Improvisational actors rely on openings, and generous improvisational actors provide openings for their fellow actors. In the fight game, there?s no room for generosity, but during the thirty-six minutes of a twelve-round fight, dangerous spaces emerge. I believe Mikey Garcia has the refined boxing acumen to recognize, organize, and strategize during the fight and to deliver shots to fill those open spaces. Garcia may not be an improvisational genius, but to continue the acting metaphor, he?s a method-actor, a Stanislavski pro. (Before method actors, bare-knuckled thespians belted their lines too loud, emoted too obviously and, in Loma-style, with a bit too much flourish.) I?d choose Brando or De Niro over any Second-City trained John Candy or improv-seasoned Robin Williams. Each man is a genius in his own right, but the two method actors have gravity that won?t date.
And if the fight happens, which would be a testament to boxing destiny eclipsing boxing?s promotional mess, I?ll pick Garcia over Lomachenko.
And I won?t just pick Garcia. I?ll root for him enthusiastically. Mikey Garcia stands in for the purest form of boxing, boxing distilled through the years until now. Loma may move fluidly, but he?s less pure. He?s changing the game, bringing his own voice to the art and that?s commendable in its way. Loma is an excellent fighter. He has some excellent skills. And he?s challenged himself, tested himself, at least up to a point. But there?s something about Loma?s style, the voice he brings to boxing, that strays too far from what I appreciate. In art, the pendulum of each ism swings wide and high before it returns to a more central place. Loma-ism is at its apex right now, which is why too many boxing writers and too many boxing fans place him at the pinnacle of the P4P ratings. I don?t put him there. I?m sure Mikey Garcia doesn?t put him there either.
Black and white photos endure in very different ways from flashy color shots. When I picture Vasyl Lomachenko I see vibrant reds and greens, stops and starts streaked with flourishes of yellow (a transitional color that creates potential openings). Mikey Garcia?s sepia tones feel more solid, more indelible, more timeless. When Garcia beats Lomachenko, and I hope he does, that all-important, career-defining victory will solidify, once again, the dominant beauty of classic boxing.
