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HOW HE DID IT: Mikey Garcia Is a MASTER of the Basics
Mikey Garcia somewhat redeemed himself for failing to make the featherweight limit by demolishing Juan Manuel Lopez inside four rounds on Saturday night. After a reasonably competitive opening frame in which Juanma managed to sneak in a couple of noteworthy left hands, Garcia found his rhythm and proceeded to systematically deconstruct his overmatched opponent in each of the remaining three rounds, knocking him down in the second and again for good in the fourth.
In this analysis, I’d like to examine how Mikey Garcia was able to take Lopez apart so efficiently by looking at his technical prowess and understated footwork.
The jab leads the way
When you have an orthodox vs. southpaw encounter, the advantage usually lies with the boxer who can work their lead foot to the outside of their opponent’s. Because of this, the rear straight, rather than the jab, often becomes the offensive weapon of choice.
Here’s Manny Pacquiao demonstrating the importance of securing the outside position with the lead foot and utilizing the rear straight during a mixed lead clash.
Pacquiao (southpaw) lands a rear straight against Miguel Cotto (orthodox).
Notice how by working the lead foot to the outside of an opponent’s, the rear straight becomes more readily available. Not only that, but because the body rotation of a rear straight is almost identical to that of an outside slip (the head is taken off line and placed over the lead foot), the rear straight also has built-in defense. Thus, in a mixed lead encounter, if both fighters are throwing simultaneously (as was the case with Pacquiao and Cotto in the above image) the fighter who is throwing the rear straight will often find the mark and force their opponent’s jab to sail across their rear shoulder.
With this in mind, then, imagine my surprise upon seeing Mikey Garcia ignore the golden rule of orthodox vs. southpaw strategy as he continually placed his lead foot inside of Juanma’s lead foot to land his jab.
Garcia steps inside of Lopez’ lead foot and lands a jab.
I’ve spoken an awful a lot recently about the use of “blinding” or probing jabs to gauge one’s distance and to ascertain an opponent’s reactions (think of Floyd Mayweather and Guillermo Rigondeaux recently). A million miles away from this type of non-committal, low contact jab is the kind that Garcia used to disrupt Juanma’s rhythm and snap his head back with repeatedly. Just as Juanma was preparing to launch an attack, Garcia would get off first by stepping in behind a stiff jab.
It was astonishing to see how little regard Garcia had for Juanma’s rear hand as he continued to line himself up with it every time he stepped forward to land the jab. While there was very little telegraphic motion to spot as Garcia released his jab, Juanma really should have been doing proactively to prevent it from landing or to deter Garcia from even throwing it. Missing were any kind of evasion, deflection or blocking skills such as pre-emptive footwork (circling away), head movement (slipping, weaving) or parrying (lead hand against the jab in an opposite lead). Instead, Juanma continued to catch the jab flush on his face.
After establishing the jab, Garcia changed up his attack.
Garcia feints a jab and hooks around Lopez’ guard.
Having conditioned Juanma with the jab, Garcia began varying his attack by mixing in some feints, left hooks and right hands. The left hook in particular worked a treat for Garcia as he would first feint with the left (along the same path as the jab would be travelling) to draw out or narrow Juanma’s hands before shifting to a lead hook toward the exposed side of Juanma’s head (above image).
Although he seldom threw his right hand as a lead (as is the usual modus operandi for an orthodox fighter against a southpaw) Garcia had no trouble threading it through behind his jab in combination.
Garcia connects with a stiff one-two (jab-right cross), sending Lopez to the canvas.
Footwork
Undoubtedly, Garcia’s precision punching will have caught the public’s eye more than just about any other aspect. Nevertheless, I believe that Garcia’s footwork is his greatest (and probably most underrated) asset.
Footwork plays a pivotal role in boxing–not only in moving a fighter into range where they can land an attack, but also in moving them off line where they can avoid an opponent’s attack. Therefore, an intelligent boxer will always look to place himself at an angle, leaving him in a position to counter and his opponent off balance.
Garcia circles behind his jab, forcing Lopez to turn and face him or risk being hit from a dominant angle. Off balance, Lopez falls short with a retaliatory left cross. Lateral movement in conjunction with the jab (stick and move) is an excellent strategy against come-forward fighters.
Footwork can also be used to open up the distance so that an opponent’s attack falls short.
Lopez overcommits and falls short with a left cross. Garcia makes him pay with a left hook.
As Juanma grew increasingly frustrated due to the fact that he wasn’t able to land much, he became more and more reckless in his pursuit. As a result, Garcia lured him in and onto hard counters almost every time he advanced.
Lopez overcommits with a one-two, sending him off balance. As Lopez is over extended, Garcia counters with a left hook and pivots off the attack line, forcing Juanma to turn and face him.
Using progressively shorter steps each time he took a step back, Garcia instilled Juanma with a false sense of distance. Believing Garcia was well within range, Juanma would launch an attack only for Garcia to take a deeper step back and counter Juanma as he was off balance and falling short.
He who controls the distance, usually controls (and wins) the fight.
Garcia’s jab draws a lead from Lopez. With Juanma baited into overcommitting with his left, Garcia steps back and counters with his right before securing a dominant angle off a (missed) straight right hand and finishing Lopez with a left hook. Notice how instead of getting too enthused after hurting Juanma with the initial right hand, Garcia takes a step back to assess the situation and give himself more punching room. This is the mark of a real craftsman –Juan Manuel Marquez did something very similar while finishing Juan Diaz in their first meeting.
Two things that stood out for me as I was watching the fight: 1) Mikey Garcia didn’t look at all like a fighter who had just struggled to make weight. His timing, rhythm, reflexes, coordination, balance, you name it, were all there for him. Quite frankly, I don’t recall him ever looking better. 2) Juan Manuel Lopez looks a far cry from the fighter who, without exaggeration, was once seen as the future of our sport. Watching Juanma now, I think he’s been the victim of a severe underdevelopment as far as learning the basics of defense are concerned –unless you’ve got the athletic qualities and other worldly reflexes of a prime Muhammad Ali, you’re going to get hit often.
However, the same cannot be said of Mikey Garcia, who, despite his tender age, already has the appearance of one of the finest ring mechanics in boxing. Garcia may not be blessed with exceptionally fast hands or feet, and if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t think he is as hard a puncher as his knockout ratio suggests he is.
What I do believe, though, is that Mikey Garcia is a tremendously accurate puncher with a fine appreciation of timing and control of distance who knows how to manipulate his opponents into certain positions by using his footwork (angulation and lateral movement) and punch variety (targeting different lines to create further openings).
Simply put, when I look at a technician like Mikey Garcia, I see a fighter who has been taught the fundamentals of boxing and has been taught them well.
Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.
As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.
This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.
A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”
Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.
Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.
Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)
Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.
When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.
Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.
Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).
For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.
“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.
As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.
As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”
Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.
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Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.
Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.
The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.
In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.
It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.
For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.
Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.
It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.
“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”
Trinidad Wins Too
Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.
Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.
“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”
After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.
Other Bouts
Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.
Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.
Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.
More Winners
Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.
Photos credit: Al Applerose
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More
Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.
Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.
Hopefully the worst is over.
Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.
“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.
Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.
“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.
He knows talent.
Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.
Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.
Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.
Can Trinidad reach world title status?
Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.
It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.
Mizukii Hiruta
Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.
Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.
Doors open at 4:30 p.m.
Boxing and the Media
The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.
Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.
Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.
Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.
MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.
Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.
Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.
It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.
Photos credit: Lina Baker
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