Boxing California Chicano Mexican
Ricardo Lezama  

Mikey Garcia – A Manny Pacquiao Style Loss

The Sandor Martin upset is reminiscent of the great Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao upset against Jeff Horn.

In Fresno, California, Mikey Garcia delivered a slow and methodical performance against Sandor Martin. For his part, Martin delivered on the expected southpaw style, consistent jab and constant lateral movement – this proved more valuable to the California judges who exhibited a preference for elusive activity. Martin scored the upset and is now heralded as Spain’s hero in the boxing world.

Mikey Garcia vs Sandor Martin on October 16, 2021

Boxing is Fair

There is a silver lining of sorts. In recent boxing memory, this Martin upset is not the first time that a relative unknown pulls off an upset against a fighter backed by a devoted fanbase: Jeff Horn’s win over Pacquiao did little to dull Pacquiao star power or even boxing ability. For different reasons, fans can argue giving Garcia a pass: he has returned (grudgingly) after a 20 month fight layoff.

In Pac’s case, fans reasoned he faced a ‘dirty’ fighter whose style was deemed ungentlemanly and home base of Australia provided an unfair judging hand. In a way, the purists who love ‘pure boxing’ and ‘pure officiating’ can signal to the fight as a fair outcome involving a well known boxing star. Garcia fans simply saw a man closing the distance and another engaged in lateral movement. No one saw an embarrassing loss. It was just a boring fight.

The demand stayed constant despite the loss to Horn. Pac-Man moved on and we saw him fight once more for years going towards a title belt in the same welterweight division. Ultimately, Pacquiao never gave Horn a rematch. Curiously, we observe here that it’s likely Garcia will not go out for a Martin.

It is possible that the loss served a few more ends than just catapulting Sandor Martin onto the radar of boxing fans: validate fair judges. It’s likely that Garcia lost the fight technically, but Martins’ style, evasiveness and jab kept Garcia from connecting more than twice a round on his head.

The Loss From An Unwanted Fight

I doubt there will be a rematch.

Like with Horn, the Mikey Garcia fanbase can turn the page and demand another fight with a more offensive minded opponent. Ultimately, the assertion from Robert Garcia about the fight not being even desired Mikey Garcia echoes the thoughts of many fans: Mikey just did not want this fight. According to Garcia, Mikey only took the fight because of the possibility of Bam Rodriguez receiving a title fight. That title fight did not materialize, with the ‘boxing’ and lateral movement winning the day too. A bad night, but undoubtedly, the fans will be happy with a better fight.

Robert Garcia on Mikey Not Wanting The Martin Fight

Robert Garcia Brutally Honest About Mikey Garcia Fight vs Martin EsNews Boxing – YouTube