It’s Wednesday afternoon and 27-year-old IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. arrives at the J.W. Marriott to take photos ahead of his Saturday clash with WBC titleholder Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs). He looks like he’s in the midst of a serious weight cut. His 5-11 frame is chiseled but his waistline is so small that they need to tighten his shorts with a clothespin in order to keep them above his waist.
“My (butt)cheeks are out,” he says with a laugh in between photos as a handler helps keep his shorts from hitting the ground. It’s one of the few laughs that the usually jovial Easter has today. The reason is that he has the opportunity this weekend to knock off Garcia, who is recognized as one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world by most boxing publications when they throw down at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Although Easter is undefeated with a record of 21-0 (14 knockouts), he will enter the ring as a massive underdog against Garcia. Easter an even bigger underdog against Garcia than Conor McGregor was when he swapped the Octagon for a boxing ring when he faced Floyd Mayweather last August.
None of this fazes him. When asked about Garcia’s pound-for-pound status, Easter shrugs his shoulders and gazes off into the distance before returning to meet the digital recorder with his lips; as though he wants to emphasize his point by speaking directly into the recorder.
“Who has he fought aside from Adrien Broner?” he asks incredulously. “Everybody knows what type of Broner he fought that night. It wasn’t the Broner that you saw coming up. He did what he had to do to win these fights and get his name on the pound-for-pound list. But I’m here to scratch his name off that list.”
He takes Broner’s loss personally because it is the boisterous Broner who has served as a mentor and friend to Easter throughout his career. Broner was the child prodigy coming out of Cincinnati who was destined to be great. Easter was a very good amateur who served as an alternate on the United States boxing team for the 2012 Olympics despite not having won any national amateur titles. Easter turned pro after Broner recommended he do so and the two have gone on this boxing journey together. They shared Mike Stafford as a trainer and now have moved on to Kevin Cunningham. What’s interesting is that Easter has the opportunity to avenge Broner’s loss to Garcia. It would be Easter’s coming out party as he would step out of Broner’s shadow and demand the boxing world to respect him.
MORE: Robert Easter Jr. looking for respect ahead of Mikey Garcia showdown
“This fight is not only for my brother, but for myself,” Easter says. “This is my career. A win like this will put me up there and get me the recognition that I deserve. It’s kind of revenge for me too because of Adrien’s loss but this is always what I wanted.”
He’s defensive about his friend, and rightfully so. But he refuses to spend a lot of time talking about Broner or his loss to Garcia. But he does mention that Garcia was supposed to be an “easy” fight for Broner. Whatever it was that didn’t allow Broner to perform to his full capability is something that Easter doesn’t feel comfortable discussing. But he vows to demonstrate just how easy it is to beat Garcia on Saturday night.
“I don’t want to call it disrespect by the media,” his voice trails off when asked if he’s being overlooked. “But they are going to watch me get this victory and see just how easy it’s going to be for me.”
Easter’s last fight certainly wasn’t easy. He won a controversial split decision against Javier Fortuna back in January and it’s clear that Fortuna isn’t close to the level of fighter that Garcia is. But Easter simply chalks it up to diverting from his original game plan and headhunting for the knockout.
“He was a smaller guy and I thought I could just get him out of there,” he says. “But he felt my power. A lot of guys see my frame and don’t think that I have power but when he felt it that’s when he started running. I really made that fight tough on myself.”
He vows to not make that same mistake against Garcia and he brims with confidence when discussing how big this victory will be for his career.
“After I win this fight, we sit at the drawing board and see what’s best for me,” he says. “I’m calling out all the champions because I believe all the champions should face each other to unify the belts. This is what I’ve always wanted.”
If he wants all of the belts, one of the fighters he would have to go through is Vasily Lomachenko, who is considered by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. When the name is brought up, Easter responds with a shrug of indifference.
“I want all the belts.”
More important than unifying the belts, Easter wants to retire undefeated. But he doesn’t want to go the easy route, he wants the biggest, baddest and most dangerous opponents out there.
“You can’t be scared to lose,” he says. “I hate even saying the word, but it just makes you work twice as hard. Nobody wants to lose. Losing isn’t even in my vocabulary. I don’t think about it at all. My dream has always been about finishing my career undefeated.”
