Mikey Garcia has had enough.
The four-division world titleholder from a fighting family, who is only 34, confirmed to ESPN that he is retiring from boxing. The product of Southern California had quietly changed his profile on Instagram to indicate that he’s a “retired world champ.”
Garcia (40-2, 30 KOs) wanted to go into law enforcement growing up but ended up following in the footsteps of his brother and future trainer Robert Garcia, who was guided to a world title by father Eduardo Garcia.
Mikey Garcia, a gifted boxer with power, was untouchable most of his career. He had a total of five title reigns between 126 and 140 pounds.
He was a juggernaut in 2013 and 2014, when he knocked out in succession Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez and Roman Martinez, and then nearly shut out Juan Carlos Burgos to become a star.
He then spent 2½ years away from the sport because of a contract dispute with his longtime promoter, Top Rank. He returned in 2016 and picked where he left off, easily defeating the likes of Adrien Broner, Sergey Lipinets and Robert Easter to climb onto pound-for-pound lists.
“My brother Mikey had a great boxing career,” Robert Garcia told ESPN on Tuesday. “Becoming a five-time champion of the world in four divisions is something very few have done. I am very proud of my brother for everything he accomplished in boxing.
“Now it’s time for him to enjoy his life together with his family and loved ones.”
Mikey Garcia was still unbeaten when took a gamble by moving up to welterweight to challenge talented titleholder Errol Spence Jr. in March 2019. As he put it, he “dared to be great.”
However, things didn’t go well in that fight, as he lost a one-sided decision. He rebounded to outpointed Jessie Vargas the following February but lost a majority decision to relative unknown Sandor Martin last October, his most-recent – and last – fight.
[lawrence-related id=24795]
[vertical-gallery id=24800]