Over the last 714 days, Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia and Elio Rojas have competed in exactly zero fights combined. That’s zippy, zilch, nada. Not one round fought by these two former champions.
Litigation has been their undoing.
Garcia, a former featherweight and super featherweight titlist, has been sidelined since Jan. 25, 2014 because of a contract dispute with Top Rank, his longtime promotional company. Rojas, nicknamed “The Kid,” which he’s not anymore at age 33, has sat out since Aug. 13, 2014, also because of a contract dispute with his manager. Garcia was 26 when he last fought and will be 29 in December.
So you might expect an overabundance of rust and dearth of action when these two former champions of Mexican descent step into the ring to face each other on Saturday night in Garcia’s long-awaited comeback fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. in the co-feature of the Leo Santa Cruz-Carl Frampton featherweight title fight (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET).
But Garcia (34-0, 28 KOs) did not store his gloves away in a trunk during his hiatus and spend his nights partying and putting on weight. The younger brother of highly respected trainer Robert Garcia spent the last 2½ years as something of a gym rat, helping his brother work with the trainer’s young signees and veterans alike at one of Robert’s two Los Angeles-area gyms.
He helped Marcos Maidana prepare for his two fights against Floyd Mayweather, and has helped to develop some of Robert’s young unbeaten prospects such as Hector Tanajara, Jonathan Navarro and Saul Rodriguez.
“I was working out the entire time,” Garcia told USA TODAY Sports. “I was sparring a lot of times, two or three times a week. There were days when I would even spar 10-12 rounds with guys. I would help at the gym and at the same time, it helps me.
“During the whole 2½ years I was gone, there were realistically maybe four or five weeks of inactivity, of completely no gym. The rest of the time I was in the gym even if it was only three days of the week. But most of the time I was there every day, Monday through Friday.
“It’s not the same when a fighter takes six months off and blows up 40 pounds, then thinks he’s going to be able to fight with four or six weeks of training camp. It’s not going to happen. I was able to stay in the gym, stay in shape, stay active, not let my body blow up in weight, so now that I’m back I don’t feel like it’s going to affect me in any way.”
Garcia, whose last fight was a unanimous decision victory against Juan Carlos Burgos on Jan. 25, 2014 at Madison Square Garden, believes the time away will extend his career, not necessarily because of less wear and tear on his body.
“I think the reason why it will lengthen my career is because, had I been boxing the whole time, I probably would be thinking of retiring soon because I was getting bored, I was getting tired of the same routine, the same training camps, long training camps fight after fight, and just never taking a break,” he said.
“But being that I did allow myself to take a break, and enjoy myself and be normal, go to fights without having to worry about training camps, diet or anything like that, I focused on other things, and it allowed me to clear my mind, and regain that hunger and motivation to get back in the gym, get the fights needed and accomplish a lot more in the boxing ring.”
There were rumors at one point that Garcia had signed or was going to sign with Mayweather Promotions after being freed from Top Rank in April. But he said he’s still a free agent. He has not signed with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
“When my fight for the 30th was offered, and I accepted the date and the fight, we decided to put all those negotiations aside and to focus on and be well prepared for my fight,” he said.
“We’ll continue negotiations with everybody and the discussions and look at all the options after the fight. This was a one-fight offer that was presented to me and that’s all.”
Garcia said during the 2 1/2 years he was idle, Top Rank never made one serious offer for a fight for him, but Top Rank’s Bob Arum has said Garcia was asking for too much money. Garcia has no bitterness toward the company.
“I understand it’s a business,” he said. “I don’t agree with the way they handle their business in the company when it comes to a certain point. They’re a great company to develop fighters, to build stars and build a career, but for me at the level I was, they tried to force (me to sign) some type of extension, where you’re only going to be able to fight this guy but you have to take an extension. I don’t agree with that and it turned into litigation. But I understand it’s a business. They’ve had a falling out with other fighters, and in the end they may have ended up working together again. So it is what it is.”
Garcia hopes to add titles in another couple weight classes to his featherweight and super featherweight titles. The fight against Rojas will be at a maximum of 140 pounds, but after this fight, he hopes to move to lightweight (135 pounds), and eventually secure a title there and then chase another at super lightweight.
“The WBO lightweight title currently held by Terry Flanagan of the U.K., I would love to get a shot at that title,” he said. “If everything goes well, then maybe there’s an opportunity to fight for the title there, and unify titles. And if not, make the jump to 140 and look for title fights there.”
Garcia knows Rojas, having seen him when he was a champion, and said he was ranked right under Rojas and ready to challenge for a world title at the time, but Rojas lost his WBC featherweight title to Jhonny Gonzalez in 2012 and has fought just once since then. In fact he has fought three times in six years.
“Elio is a very good fighter. He’s got the experience, he’s got the talent, the boxing skills,” Garcia said. “I know he’s been inactive for almost two years so we’re almost on the same page there. I want him to come fully prepared for the fight. I want him to be aggressive, and come with the mind-set of winning, that will challenge me to really step up my game.
“I don’t want a walk in the park. If I wanted that I could’ve chosen someone that I could blow out of the water. We want someone who’s worthy, like Rojas, and I think it’s going to be a great fight. It’s a very even fight on paper.”
Garcia is excited about being back on the East Coast, having fought three times previously at Madison Square Garden and once in Atlantic City. He says New York boxing fans are more knowledgeable than most.
“It’s a different crowd,” he said. “They’re real boxing fans. They’re not just there for the main event and because it’s the thing to do on a Saturday night. They follow the sport and support the up-and-coming fighters, and the fans are there to enjoy boxing, not just one or two fighters. A lot of heritage and history there and I really like it.”
In the boxing world, there is obvious curiosity about how well Garcia, once one of the top young fighters in the sport, will perform after such a long period of inactivity during his prime earning years. He has no worries heading into Saturday.
“I’m in my prime. I stopped (fighting) at 26, but I still feel that I’m in the best shape ever,” he said. “I’m in the best moment of my career, and I really think the best of my career is next.”
(Photo of Mikey Garcia, right, facing Juan Carlos Burgos in 2014, by Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports)