Robert Garcia, brother and trainer of two weight world champion Mikey Garcia has said that the return is planed for this year and should take place before April.
Mikey has been out of the ring since his unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Burgos in January of 2014 meaning he has now been inactive for over a year and this could be fourteen or fifteen months by the time he is active again.
Whether or not ring rust could be a factor in his return is unknown at this stage but it wouldn’t be the first time a prospect came back from a layoff and was not the same fighter. Nevertheless it is good that his team and Top Rank seem to have resolved their issues and are getting the fighter back in the ring.
So far no names have been mentioned for Garcia, but an undefeated two weight world champion should have a wealth of names to pick from and they should be able to find a soft touch opponent as a tune up fight before throwing him into the mix with the big dogs again. There is also the fact that his return will be at a new weight. Garcia is expected to skip the 135lb division and immediately enter the fray at 140lbs this is a very dangerous move as we saw then two-weight world champion try and jump a weight in his move to 147. Whilst Broner was able to capture a world title at that new weight against light hitting Paulie Malignaggi, he was then soundly beaten by full-fledged welterweight Marcos Maidana.
I assume what Garcia and his team are planning here is a lucrative move, assuming he can handle the weight. The current crop of talent at 140 is very impressive and there are a ton of matchups which will earn him good money and increase his profile, the aforementioned Broner included. Regardless of which weight Garcia does finally move to, we could see him become a three or even four weight four champion in the next two years.
