One of boxing's best has his sights set on Manny Pacquiao

Mikey Garcia is unquestionably one of the world's greatest fighters, but it seems like he's walking into a trap.
He'll face the 30-1-2 Juan Carlos Burgos on Saturday for the WBO super featherweight title in the main event of an HBO-televised card at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

But little talk is centered on Burgos, who after winning 30 of his first 31 fights has, oddly, drawn the last two.

Rather, much of the pre-talk conversation about Garcia has been about big fights down the line, primarily one against Manny Pacquiao.

It's not out of the question that Garcia, 33-0 with 28 KOs, could wind up facing Pacquiao later this year or early next. Pacquiao is having difficulty finding an opponent for his April 12 date in Las Vegas, and assuming he wins against whomever he fights, it won't be easy to match him when he opts to fight again.

Though Garcia is fighting at just 130 pounds now and Pacquiao is at welterweight, Pacquiao himself has proven it is possible to make that jump.

On March 15, 2008, Pacquiao edged Juan Manuel Marquez in a bout at 130. He moved to lightweight to defeat David Diaz in June, and then in December, he utterly destroyed Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight.

There's an eerie similarity between the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight in 2008 and a potential Garcia-Pacquiao bout in late 2014.

In 2008, Pacquiao was the rising fighter who was opening eyes and zooming up the ratings. He was facing the veteran De La Hoya, who had been in decline and was looking for one final big payday.

Now, the roles are reversed. It is Pacquiao who is much closer to the end than the prime of his career, and it is Garcia who is making the big name for himself and is looking to move up in weight.

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Mikey Garcia Talks More Pacman, Gamboa & A Little About Burgos

You probably know WBO junior lightweight world titlist Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 Kos) is scheduled to face Tijuana’s Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1-2, 20 Kos) on Jan. 25, at Madison Square Garden Theater. HBO will televise the world title challenge.

The Moreno Valley resident, who moved there several years ago from Oxnard, traveled 100 miles north to set up the final weeks of training camp in his old haunts. With no other major fights on his brother Robert Garcia’s agenda, it would seem to be easier to have preparation in the Riverside area. But it’s not a major concern.

During the media day held in Oxnard, most of the questioning focused on Garcia’s possible future match up with Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. Tons of questioning regarded the junior lightweight jumping up to junior welterweight or welterweight to meet the seven division world champion from the Philippines.

“I was his sparring partner for several weeks. Three or four weeks. He was very quick, very fast I was more concerned with his speed than his strength,” said Garcia, 26, about a sparring session with Pacquiao in 2006. “I did pretty well. I don’t know if he remembers the sparring session. I never beat him up, but he never beat me up either. It was just a very good sparring session at Wild Card.”

Garcia added that it would not be this year but next year if the fight with Pacman was made. He cited a need to build more muscle and weight plus maintain the speed, and a need for three or four more fights.

Another opponent whose name popped up was Cuba’s Yuri Gamboa, who tweeted acidic taunts and declarations to Garcia recently.

“If his (Gamboa) promoter can’t get the fight he has to do something to get the fight himself,” said Garcia with a chuckle, regarding Gamboa’s attempts to lure a title fight. “If it happens it makes for a better fight. More expectations. You all remember Ricardo Mayorga.”

http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/17857-mikey-garcia-talks-more

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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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