Mikey Garcia, one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, will look to add some more championship gold to his resume this summer. Prior to the Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares rematch in Los Angeles on Saturday, the announcement was made that the WBC lightweight champion will be stepping into the ring on July 28 to square off with IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. The bout will take place inside Staples Center.
Garcia (38-0, 20 KOs) expressed his excitement to the AP about getting this unification fight close to his home. The WBO lightweight champ grew up in nearby Oxnard.
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"I wanted to get a fight here at home, and it happens to be the biggest fight of my career," Garcia said. "Right now at lightweight, there's no bigger challenge than Robert Easter."
This fight marks a move back to lightweight for Garcia. In his most recent outing, he defeated Sergey Lipnets in March to capture the IBF and lineal light welterweight championships. Garcia later vacated the IBF title, signaling the inevitable move back to the lightweight ranks.
Easter, too, enters this bout with an unblemished professional record, although with not as much experience as Garcia brings to the table. The 27-year-old carries a 21-0 record with 14 of those wins coming by way of knockout. In his last fight, Easter made the third consecutive defense of his IBF championship when he earned a split decision win over Javier Fortuna.
This is a tremendous fight on paper, but the fact remains that should Garcia move to 39-0 in his career with a victory, talk will once again revert back to a superfight with the man who most likely is the best pound-for-pound in the world, WBA and Ring lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
