This coming Saturday night from the Madison Square Garden theater, Mikey Garcia (30-0) brother of highly respected trainer Robert Garcia finally get his chance to fight for a major belt when he faces rugged Orlando Salido(39-11-2). While this fight has been a year in the making, Mikey is no stranger to boxing as his father Eduardo Garcia trained his brother Robert when he was coming up in the boxing game through the 90s.
Robert was a standout himself, compiling a 34-3 record before he called it quits and turned from a good pro to a top level boxing trainer. While Mikey has the pedigree and comes from a family of boxers, Saturday may prove similar to what his brother faced when he stepped up in competition and faced Diego Corrales back in 1999. Robert would lose by a 7th round TKO to the hard hitting Corrales and then would go on to lose his next 2 of 4 fights before calling it a career.
Of course the obvious fact is that Mikey is not his brother Robert but one can not help but notice the similarities. Both turned pro when they were teenagers, both are or had fought for their first major belt at their 31st (Mikey) and 30th (Roberto) pro fights respectively, both were in their 6th year of being a pro when they earner their first title shot, and both were under the age of 25.
It may be just sheer coincidence with the similarities but just as Roberto was stepping up and losing to the likes of Corrales, Ben Tackie and Joel Casamayor, little brother Mikey may be on the same path- Only time will tell.
Salido may not be Diego Corrales but Salido is as crafty and durable a fighter there is in boxing and even though Salido may have 11 losses on his record, Salido has been in with Juan Manuel Marquez, Robert Guerrero and even Junama, who was favored to beat the rugged Mexican. Needless to say, Salido has seen it all. He may not be a young 25 year old up and coming fighter but Salido has the power and craftiness to not only beat Garcia but align Mikey’s career to that of his brothers.
Mikey may not be his brother but just as I wasn’t into stats and coincidences such as Peyton Manning being 0-3 in playoff games when the temperature is under 40, sometimes things have a funny way of panning out.