Most boxers grow up wanting to be world champions. They go to bed dreaming of having their hand raised in victory and having a belt wrapped around their waist.
Mikey Garcia didn’t have those dreams.
The man recognized by most as one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world never went to bed thinking about exchanging punches in front of a sold-out arena. Even though he comes from a bloodline of boxers – his father and older brothers have both boxed and trained — Garcia just wasn’t interested. The only champion Mikey Garcia wanted to be was, as he calls it, "The People's Champion.' No, not like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson during his WWE career. Garcia’s goal was to touch lives.
"I always thought I’d be in either law enforcement or practicing law," Garcia tells Sporting News. "I never had a dream of being a fighter as a kid. That was other kids' dreams. I only started boxing because it was in the family."
Good thing he did, because he happens to be really, really good at it.
A couple days before he steps between the ropes to face Robert Easter Jr. in a lightweight title unification bout at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Garcia is calm, cool and collected as he converses about the point where he realized that boxing offered him a greater opportunity to give back.
The seeds for Garcia to be one of the best fighters on the planet didn’t exactly sow themselves early on. He was a good, but not great, amateur who "accidentally" started his journey in boxing as a replacement when he was 14. Considering he hung around his brothers and toyed around with the idea, it wasn't a big deal to lace up the gloves as a last-minute opponent, but his first taste of competition hooked him. He ended his amateur career with a 48-12 record; he lost his final amateur fight to Carlos Molina in the National Golden Gloves Championships in 2006 before deciding to turn pro with his older brother, Robert, as his trainer.
He hasn’t lost a fight since then.
Even though he was a promising young talent, Garcia still yearned to find a way to give back to others. In 2010, he graduated from the Ventura County Police and Sheriff's Reserve Academy to keep his options open in case this little fistfighting thing didn't pan out. He won his first world title in 2013 as a featherweight and then acquired his second 10 months later. As good as he was, Garcia says he was burning out because his heart wasn't really in it.
A contract dispute with Top Rank shelved Garcia from 2014-16. While some would consider that a waste of his prime years, Garcia sees it as a blessing in disguise.
MORE: Mikey Garcia: The most wanted man in boxing
"I probably would have retired at the age I am right now," the 30-year-old says. “I just didn't have the drive or hunger to keep going. But the time off helped me heal physically and mentally. The spark is back and I'm as hungry as I've ever been. I'm making up for the time I was away and feel that I have to prove myself more than before."
The 2 1/2 years away made Garcia realize just how much he loved the sport and, more importantly, how important he was to his fans. Gacia says that throughout the contract dispute, fan support pushed him to get back into the ring. Even though he wasn't fighting, he was speaking to kids, donating blood by the gallon (he says he has acquired several pins for the copious amounts of blood donated) and becoming a presence in the community. His stardom as a boxer offered him the opportunity to touch lives, and that has been the driving force behind his return.
"I don't do it for publicity. I do it because giving back is the right thing to do," he says. "I really do fight for my fans because I owe it to them for all of the support. All of the world titles mean nothing without the love and support from my fans. That's what makes me a world champion."
MORE: Easter: I’m here to scratch Garcia’s name off the pound-for-pound list
Since returning, Garcia has torn apart the opposition. He knocked out Elio Rojas and Dejan Zlatičanin before bumping up a weight class and dominating Adrien Broner and Sergey Lipinets. He's now a three-division world champion who's looking to grow his belt collection when he attempts to add Easter's IBF lightweight title to his WBC championship.
What also makes this fight special is that Garcia will be fighting in his home state for the first time in more than seven years. The fan support at Staples Center will make this a homecoming fight that he won’t forget, and the mere thought brings a smile to his face.
"Before my layoff, I was fighting because it was a career that came with good money," he says. "Now that has changed. I want to accomplish great things that can be remembered for years and years while affecting the lives of others."
Although Garcia will probably never need to work another job after his boxing career is over, the idea of giving back after he stops fighting is something he takes very seriously.
"I ended up being a boxer, but I might go back to school after I retire and do something in law," he says. "Maybe I'll be an attorney and help other fighters with their contracts. I don’t know. I have to do something. I don’t know any other way to be. I was put on this earth to give back and help people. If I have to use my boxing status as a platform to help spread to others, so be it.”
As you can see, Mikey Garcia does nothing arbitrarily. All of it serves to achieve a greater goal.
Before he departs for a photo session, he wants fans to know just how much they mean to him.
"Anybody's life that I touched, if you run into me 10 or 20 years from now, please share that moment with me," he says. "If it was any of my words that helped you get there, please share that because that makes me feel like a champion for the world, not just in boxing."
