Is Mikey Garcia Top Rank’s Manny Pacquiao replacement?

It is not clear when "The Mikey Project" began, but certainly it took off in full sometime in the first few rounds of his breakout win over Orlando Salido about one year ago. What is The Mikey Project? It's Top Rank's plan to make Mikey Garcia the heir apparent to Manny Pacquiao, a pay-per-view caliber star and a fighter you can't miss watching. Now, this project is without a doubt entering its most pivotal phase, calendar year 2014.

Bob Arum has an aging superstar on one end of his stable and several young former Olympians and high-end prospects on the other. In the middle is Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia, the most viable option to become Top Rank's next main attraction.

For the better part of six years, Manny Pacquiao has controlled Top Rank’s pay-per-view market. Now, the Filipino superstar is coming off an unanimous decision victory over Brandon Rios, an important comeback win over his devastating knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez. Still, Manny's reign is nearing its end and there is no young heir apparent waiting in the wings, or is there?

Superstars are hard to come by, and while Top Rank has an excellent group of former amateurs with gold medals and other credentials, they are simply not ready to assume such a role. Timothy Bradley is still  undefeated and has earned some cred with his brawl against Ruslan Provodnikov and win over Marquez, but the casual fans have not gripped onto him. Elsewhere, Nonito Donaire suffered a setback, and the man who beat him, Guillermo Rigondeaux, has had even more difficulty becoming an appealing attraction than Bradley.

In order for Top Rank to continue to compete in the PPV market against Golden Boy Promotions they need someone to crossover from being an elite fighter and become a superstar, exactly what Pac-Man did almost six years ago -- to the Golden Boy himself.

Garcia took major strides in 2013, and was in fact a runner-up for the 2013 Fighter of the Year, but it's up to Arum and his team to properly lead him through the ranks in order to arrive at the right moment on the biggest stage, and it is no easy task. The project continues on January 25th, when Garcia (33-0, 28KO) faces off in New York City against fighter Juan Carlos Burgos.

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