Unified lightweight champion Mikey Garcia's planned move to welterweight could take a while longer than previously expected as Garcia is expected to stay put at 135 pounds for his next fight.
According to a report from ESPN, Garcia is expected to defend his WBC and IBF lightweight titles against Richard Commey, the mandatory challenger to Garcia's IBF title. The news would mean that Garcia's much-discussed move to 147 pounds, where he would have challenged for Errol Spence Jr.'s IBF welterweight title, will have to wait.
The fight has no scheduled date, venue or a broadcast deal in place. While Garcia and Commey have been fighting on PBC cards for years, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has been eyeing a future in which Garcia fights on the DAZN platform as he is not exclusive to any one promoter or network.
After moving up in weight in March to win the IBF junior welterweight title, Garcia went back down to lightweight to unify titles with Robert Easter Jr. The two met in Los Angeles back in late July when Garcia won a unanimous decision to win the IBF belt. As a result of winning the IBF title, Garcia also inherited Commey as a mandatory challenger because Commey won a title eliminator earlier this year.
Garcia also has another possible mandatory challenger much later down the line in Luke Campbell. Campbell won a WBC title eliminator on September 22 when he defeated Yvan Mendy in their rematch which took place on the Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin undercard.
