SAN ANTONIO – Three-time world boxing champion Mikey Garcia has the chance to make history as the Showtime network's Premier Boxing Champions event returns to the Alamodome on Feb. 10.
Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) who has three world titles has now accepted the challenge to fight at 140 pounds in the Junior Welterweight world championship match against 140-pound World Champion Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs).
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If Garcia is successful in this fight he will be one of only three fighters holding four world titles to jump weight classes, Jesse James Lejia, a native San Antonio boxer said.
Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez have won four world titles at 126, 130, 135, and 140 pounds.
Lejia is no stranger to the boxing world after competing in the featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight, and the light welterweight divisions.
He compared jumping weight classes to a football safety going against a middle linebacker.
“That's a big difference, and so this is what you see here," Leija said.
The Alamo City hosted both Garcia and Lipnets for a press conference on Tuesday. They talked with the media and had their first face-off.
Garcia said he had the chance to fight in other regions of Texas, and while he always gets lots of love from other cities he’s never had the opportunity to fight in San Antonio. So when it came down to choosing a city to host the match, San Antonio was at the top of his list.
“I wanted to give something back to San Antonio so we just decided, 'You know what? There's no better city to host this than San Antonio,'” Garcia said.
Garcia’s brother, Robert Garcia, owns a gym in San Antonio called Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, where Mikey Garcia will train and prepare for this match.
Garcia’s opponent Sergey Lipinnets lives in California but is originally from Kazakhstan.
This is Lipinet's first time in San Antonio and he said through a translator that he’s looking forward to exploring the city and fighting Garcia.
“He’s a well-known boxer. I heard about him. I’ve seen him fighting, and there's no surprises,” Lipinets said.
But Garcia said he is full of confidence when it comes to the upcoming match.
“We’re expecting a very tough, competitive fight. I think he’s the fighter that's always dangerous. He’s got power in both hands. He’s not afraid to let his hands go. He’s also not afraid to get hit, to hit back -- and that's what makes him dangerous,” Garcia said. “But I think we have better boxing skills overall and that’s what going to help me prevail.”
The Junior Welterweight World Championship boxing match will take place in the Alamodome on Feb. 10. Tickets are on sale on Ticketmaster for as low as $20.
The match will also broadcast live on Showtime beginning at 9:15 p.m.
The co-main event features a rematch for the WBA 140-pound belt featuring Rances Barthelemy and Kiryl Relikh.
This is arguably the largest fight San Antonio has seen since Saul "Canelo" Alvarez took on Austin Trout at the Alamodome in 2013. This fight drew in over 40,000 fans.
“San Antonio was one of the top five fighting cities in the U.S. We want to get the fight fans back in San Antonio,” Leija said.