Mikey Garcia To Vacate IBF Junior Welterweight Title, Return To Lightweight
After weeks of deliberation, Miley Garcia has finally elected to go back to lightweight and vacate the junior welterweight title he won in March.
Per an ESPN report, Garcia has notified the IBF that he is vacating his junior welterweight title and will go back to 135 pounds, where he is the WBC world champion at that weight. The IBF notified ESPN of the news, with Daryl Peoples, the president of the governing body, saying he was a “little surprised” Garcia would vacate the belt.
The move comes after Garcia had initially indicated that he would defend his IBF title in his next fight but the WBC had not yet stripped him of their lightweight belt.
With Garcia looking to return to lightweight, he will have a couple of big fights waiting for him. Garcia could face the winner of the Jorge Linares vs. Vasyl Lomachenko fight for Linares’ WBA lightweight and WBC Diamond belt. The WBC previously ordered Garcia and Linares to fight, but both fighters eventually moved on to other fights. There is also a potential unification clash with IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr.
Garcia became the 17th man in boxing history to win a major world title in four different weight classes when he defeated Sergey Lipinets back in March on Showtime to win his IBF title. Had Garcia remained at junior welterweight, he would have been ordered to fight mandatory challenger Ivan Baranchyk, who defeated Petr Petrov in a title eliminator two days before Garcia’s historic win.
