The man who many (including Lomachenko himself) believe could bring down pound-for-pound king Vasily Lomachenko, Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KO’s) will first seek to unify the WBC and IBF lightweight (135-pound) belts by putting his WBC championship on the line against IBF champion Robert Easter Jr. (21-0, 14 KO’s), Saturday July 28 at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Robert Easter Jr. is the fourth ranked lightweight according to ESPN and has a few advantages over Garcia. At 27 he is three years younger, and 5-feet-11 is very tall for a lightweight (Garcia is only 5-foot-6). Despite his success, he will be making a trainer switch for this fight, employing longtime Devon Alexander and Cory Spinks trainer Kevin Cunningham. He has spoken of being too comfortable with his old trainer, and how he felt he needed a change after not looking his best in his last few fights.
Garcia must be careful not to get caught looking past his undefeated opponent, having already talked about facing Lomachenko after, should he get by Easter. But, Easter has claimed that Cunningham’s training camp in Florida will put him on another level, and a young, hungry and undefeated prospect who thinks he can be even better is always a scary prospect.