Showtime: Miguel Angel Garcia Cortez vs. Robert Easter Jr. & Luis Ortiz vs. Razvan Cojanu RBR.

I get that he wants to prove himself against the best at 147 but one of the best is still in his division at 135. There's unfinished business.

 

Were you really super impressed with Mikey tonight? I thought Mikey was adapting and getting better the first few rounds, but after the kd he let Easter outthrow him and get back in the fight. I was expecting Mikey to carefully open Easter up as he did to get the kd, but he just kept walking him down, landing just enough body shots and rights to run away with it. I don't know if my expectations are too high, but I think Mikey's capable of more, and not just shutting out but completely outclassing a guy like Easter through the mid to late rounds, then laying him out.

 

maybe they missed Whyte's numerous fouls which were never penalized by the ref, or the fact that if the headbutt is called properly, the fight would have at the least, been a draw.

 

I thought Easter may have won round 2. Rounds 4 and 5 were close as well but I agree the cleaner work was from Mikey.

It reminded me a lot of Canelo vs Trout or to an extent Canelo vs Lara. One guy jabbing from the outside, throwing more punches, but on his bike, moving away (Trout & Lara vs Canelo / Easter tonight) and the other guy (Canelo vs Trout & Lara / Mikey tonight) being patient, stalking his opponent, waiting for opportunities to get inside and throw in combination when the opportunity presents itself, and landing the cleaner better punches round after round.

This was a very close fight early on, Easter has fast hands and the reach advantage definitely was a new experience for Mikey Garcia. It was a pleasure though to see Mikey make adjustments and find ways to catch Easter. The left hook that dropped him was a thing of beauty.

Easter is a very good fighter, but Mikey is on a whole nother level. Is Spence a bridge too far for Mikey? Maybe, maybe not. I do think that having faced Easter is a good way to prepare for a guy like Spence. After all, Easter is taller than Spence, Easter has a longer reach than Spence, and Easter arguably has faster hands than Spence. But of course Spence has much better footwork, better balance than Easter and well he's a full blown welterweight.

After this performance, I certainly wouldn't count Mikey out in a fight against Spence, but it will be tough. But being in there with Easter will certainly prepare him well for Spence. Mikey is such a technician in there, what really impressed me was his ability to put punches together in combination. I mean one thing you don't want to do when you're in there vs Mikey is to have your back on the ropes. Those 3 and 4 punch combinations starting with the body can swing a close round in favor of Mikey. And when Robert Gatcia started asking for body punches, Mikey obliged.

What an fricken awesome prize fight. I was thoroughly entertained throughout. Easter came to fight, and really took it to Mikey. I think it was the 9th round where both guys just went to war in the middle of that ring leaving it all in the ring. Just sustained highly skilled hand to hand combat. Tonight's main event was what boxing is all about. And man I just can't wait to watch another Mikey Garcia fight.

 

One of the epic what if fantasy fights in boxing history.

 

Mikey against Spence would be a really tough to call, great style matchup... if they were the same size. But they're not the same size, they're 12 natural lbs different. It would be nice to watch for a few rounds, but Mikey just wouldn't win. It also wouldn't mean anything for Spence so I don't know why he'd be keen to oblige Mikey.

 

I think Easter won at least a round or two, maybe 3, but there's no doubt that Mikey won the fight. As far as Mikey in the 2nd half of the fight, I did notice Mikey got hit with some clean shots in the 11th round. Easter definitely didn't back down, he was a threat right until the end. I wouldn't say Mikey cruised exactly, he was at a stylistic advantage and I think he needed to continue to throw punches in combination to keep Easter from gaining momentum. At times Mikey's offense was his best defense, I thought had he actually tried to cruise in the 2nd half he may not have won as easily. I would rate Mikey's peformance a solid A. I don't think you can do much better against a guy with a major reach / height advantage with fast hands.

 

Here's the thing, yes it's 12 pounds, but Mikey already fought Broner at 140. Spence is a major step up obviously but Spence is not as Tall as the guy he just fought Easter or does not has as long of a reach as Easter. I'd be more skeptical about Mikey's chances vs Spence if he didn't fight a guy like Easter. Weight is weight, and height / reach doesn't equal weight, but body frame is a factor when you're moving up.

If you can handle a guy like Easter to the extent Mikey did, I think that's a great way to prepare for fighting Spence. It's not like Mikey just beat a guy his size tonight. I mean lets be honest, Easter presented some challenges tonight that even Spence may not be able to do. Easter came out and was pumping that jab with speed. Spence has skill, but look at how he struggled much of the fight against Kell Brook.

I think Mikey Garcia at this point is by far the best fighter at 135 or 140. From Mikey's perspective, he feels like he's in his prime and he wants to fight the best fighter that he can realistically fight. It's definitely a risk fighting Spence no doubt about it, but after what we saw him do tonight, it's a fight that Mikey could win if he can get inside against Spence and put punches together like he did vs Spence.