at Schaeffer being on his
to Mikey Garcia @mr. smoke weed
As soon as Richard Schaefer familiarized himself with Dejan Zlaticanin, he called Mikey Garcia.
The promoter of a Showtime doubleheader that includes the Zlaticanin-Garcia lightweight title fight Saturday night realized quickly that Montenegro’s Zlaticanin wouldn’t represent an easy path to a 135-pound world title. Soon thereafter, Schaefer met with Garcia and his older brother/trainer, Robert Garcia, and asked them to think twice about boxing Zlaticanin.
“I sat down with him and his brother, Robert,” Schaefer recalled during a press conference Thursday in Las Vegas. “And I said, ‘Man, this is only your second fight [at lightweight]. Why do you want to fight this guy? I mean, there’s so many other guys. This guy’s dangerous. This is really playing with fire.’ And then I get a call from a very respected journalist a couple hours later. And he’s telling me, ‘Why did you make that fight? You know Mikey’s gonna lose?’”
Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs), the WBC world lightweight champion, stands just 5-feet-4, three inches shorter than Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs). The hard-hitting southpaw presents a big problem, though, because of his dangerous left hand and relentless nature. Schaefer joked Thursday that Zlaticanin reminds him of “King Kong.”
“I said, ‘Mikey, please, don’t you wanna change your mind?,’ ” Schaefer said. “He said, ‘What, you don’t think I’m gonna be able to beat the guy?’ I says, ‘No, but you know, maybe later on. Take another fight or so.’ He said, ‘No, no, no. I’ve wasted enough time. That’s the kind of fighter I am. I wanna fight the best. Wanna win against the best. I’m here to make a statement. That’s the kind of fighter I am.’ And here we go. This is a very dangerous fight.”
The 29-year-old Garcia, who resides in Riverside, California, will attempt to win a world title in a third weight class. The Zlaticanin-Garcia fight will open Showtime’s doubleheader at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT from MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The main event will be a 12-round rematch between Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs), the WBA world featherweight champion, and Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs), of Rosemead, California.
- See more at: Schaefer Tried To Talk Mikey Garcia Out of Fighting Zlaticanin - Boxing News
Mikey gonna get this though
Smh at Schaefer trying to talk Mikey out of being great. Why are people acting brand new about Mikey? His pops is really the one training him, he fights tall w a height advantage, reach advantage and has NyQuil in both hands. Plus has better boxing skill.
