Garcia loses WBO title on scales ahead of Lopez fight
Mikey Garcia (31-0) failed to make weight ahead of his WBO featherweight title fight against Juan Manuel Lopez (33-2) at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday live on BoxNation.
As a Result, Garcia loses his WBO title on the scales and doesn't have the chance to retain it against Puerto Rican Lopez. However, Lopez does have a chance to win the now vacant title if he's able to beat Garcia.
The 25-year-old weighed in at 128 lbs, two pounds over the weight limit. His opponent, former WBO champion Lopez, weighed 125 ¼.
Garcia appeared very gaunt in the face, showing the effects of the weight cutting, chose not to try to drop the 2 pounds to get to 126. In contrast, Lopez looked superb and was bouncing around and smiling.
This definitely gives Juanma a shot of confidence because he knows what happens when a fighter is struggling with the weight like Mikey was in this fight.
Where we could see Mikey showing the signs of his struggle with the weight is in the second half of the fight. When a fighter like Mikey is having problems making the weight, then you see the fighter tend to run out of gas after the 6th round.
That could be one of the reasons why Mikey looked so exhausted in the 7th and 8th rounds of his fight against Orlando Salido, when he was well ahead on points before a butt broke his nose in round 8 and left him unable to continue, winning a technical decision and taking the WBO crown.
He had dropped Salido twice in round one and once each in rounds three and four. It was a dominant performance and one that suggested big things will come for the man from Oxnard, California.
Lopez, 29, comes into the fight on a different trajectory. He was unbeaten before he ran into Salido in April 2011 and was shockingly stopped in eight. After a comeback win over Mike Oliver, they met again in March 2012 and Salido won another thriller, this time in 10 rounds.
The freshness and versatility are with Garcia but Lopez will have the mortivation to take his belt back and save his career, which makes this a very intriguing fight.