Four-weight division titleholder Mikey Garcia may have raised as many questions as answers about his ability to face the top contenders of the welterweight class.
Saturday night at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, Garcia overcame a slow start against Jesse Vargas, before dropping him in the fifth round en route to a 12-round unanimous decision.
The judges’ scorecards read 114-113, 116-111, and 116-111.
This was Garcia’s first outing in the ring since his lopsided points loss last spring to Errol Spence Jr., a native of Dallas who happened to be sitting ringside.
Early on Vargas, the bigger man, outworked Garcia, a natural lightweight, scoring with the jab and straight rights to the body. Vargas also connected on a few hard left hooks that kept Garcia on his toes. Case in point, in Round 4, Vargas managed to briefly stagger Garcia with a hook that landed right on the temple.
“Well, I did have to make adjustments,” Garcia admitted afterward. “I had to get adjusted to (Vargas’) height, his reach, natural size, but as the fight went on I felt like I was hurting him and closing the distance.”
Indeed, the momentum began to shift midway through Round 5, when Garcia started to successfully time Vargas with a series of hare straight rights, one of which caused Vargas to have a bad case of jake leg and retreat to a corner. Garcia followed up with a booming one-two combination right down the middle of the guard that flattened Vargas for the lone knockdown of the fight.
But Vargas, as is his wont, was able to hang on. Moreover, he had a few positive moments that may have won him some of the late rounds.
“He’s a big man. Jesse’s a big man,” Garcia said, “but my talent was able to overcome that.
“I felt that my speed and my power was all perfect and I was able to put it into effect against the bigger guy.”
Still, some of the tops fighters of the welterweight division – Vargas is a fringe contender, at best – may be a bridge too far for Garcia. Looking ahead, Garcia reiterated his desire to face titleholder Manny Pacquiao in the summer. He also floated the idea of facing Spence again.
“I think I have great options,” Garcia said. “I’m ready to get back in the ring with the best. I would love to get a match with Manny Pacquiao or a rematch with Errol Spence. I want to continue campaigning at 147.”
This was Garcia’s fight fight with promoter Eddie Hearn on the DAZN streaming platform. Hearn has said that Saudi Arabia remains deeply interested in staging a potential Pacquiao-Garcia bout.