Garcia Feels He Can Be a Star at 147

Despite his poor performance in last year’s IBF welterweight title fight with Errol Spence Jr., Mikey Garcia still feels he can be as big of a name and a world champion at welterweight like he was at super lightweight, lightweight, super featherweight and featherweight.

That test begins again with a showdown against former WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas on February 29.

“It’s a first for me fighting someone that I know,” said Garcia. “We’ve done fundraisers together, commentated together and hung out, but that’s different. I don’t need to push him to sell the fight, it’s a great match-up and Jessie is a multi-division World champion like me, so the fans know what they are going to see.”

Garcia was previously an unbeaten four-division world champion, having unified the WBC and IBF 135-pound titles against Robert Easter Jr. in July 2018. Rather than stay at that weight, however, Garcia tried to jump to 147 and challenge Spence, who swept the scorecards in their pay-per-view bout.

Vargas claimed the WBO version of the welterweight strap by defeating Sadam Ali in March 2016 but dropped the title to Manny Pacquiao that November. Since then, Vargas has gone 2-0-2, most recently finishing Humberto Soto in April.

“It’s a great fight for everybody. February 29, once we’re inside the ring there’s no more friends. I need to beat him to prove that I am capable of being a major player in the welterweight division, if he beats me then he’s a huge name at 147 pounds — so there is a lot at stake here. There’s a lot of questions for me and I think that this is a great fight for me to give the right answers.”

Original Story: Boxing Scene