Mikey Garcia pulled off a big win against Adrien Broner in Garcia's junior welterweight debut, but Vasyl Lomachenko did not see anything special.
In a conference call heading into his fight against Miguel Marriaga, Lomachenko, with the help of a translator, said he doesn't see Garcia as a Class-A boxer after Garcia's win against Broner.
“I didn’t see anything in that bout (to suggest) that he’s a Class-A, outstanding fighter,” Lomachenko said. “Yes, he won the fight, yes he did everything to win that fight. But I haven’t seen anything outstanding. I haven’t seen a Class-A fighter. I almost fell asleep.”
In response to Lomachenko's comments, Garcia's brother and trainer Robert fired back and criticized Lomachenko's opponent, who lost his last fight back in April. Robert Garcia told RingTV.com that he wants to see a Mikey Garcia vs. Vasyl Lomachenko fight, but thinks Lomachenko and his camp would not take that fight.
“They’re not going to do the [Lomachenko] fight with Mikey, they know better,” Robert Garcia said. “Is Marriaga an ‘A’ fighter? He just got beat by a featherweight (Oscar Valdez) in his last fight. Lomachenko should be embarrassed. Especially after Lomachenko said he won’t fight unless he’s fighting in unification bouts. He wants to fight the best. Is Marriaga the best? If the best isn’t available, then move up and fight the best at 135 (pounds). That’s what Mikey did. He had no big challenges at 135 and he went up to 140 and fought Broner. Lomachenko isn’t showing signs that he’s looking to fight Mikey at all. He’s fighting a smaller guy that just lost, what does that tell you?”
Lomachenko is the current WBO champion at 130 pounds, a title that Mikey Garcia once held before winning the WBC lightweight title earlier this year. Lomachenko fought Marriaga on ESPN on August 5.
