Mikey Garcia-Adrien Broner fight set for Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on July 29
Mikey Garcia’s most prominent fight yet will be staged in the city that promises maximum exposure.
New York’s Barclays Center was announced Tuesday as the site for unbeaten Garcia’s 140-pound nontitle bout against former four-division champion Adrien Broner.
Riverside’s 29-year-old Garcia (36-0, 30 knockouts), who wears his third division belt as World Boxing Council lightweight champion, will meet Cincinnati’s Broner (33-2, 24 KOs) on July 29 on Showtime.
While Los Angeles and Las Vegas were also mentioned as possible destinations, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center has been in the frequent rotation for high-profile Showtime bouts, including the title-unifications between welterweights Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia and super-middleweights Badou Jack and James DeGale.
Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark told The Times on Tuesday that bringing Garcia-Broner to Brooklyn underlines his arena’s standing in the sport, emphasizing special fights more than the fighters’ hometowns.
“We’ve really developed a boxing program here. It’s something that’s been a focus. And this solidifies us as the premier boxing venue in the country,” Yormark said. “We look at ourselves as one of the biggest stages that a fighter can be a part of.
“Being in New York affords them a lot of opportunities from a P.R. standpoint. They love our crowds. And there’s a great heritage of boxing here in the Brooklyn borough and New York in general. If you look at our fights, very few have had those roots in Brooklyn. The fans loved Mikey last summer.
“Barclays has become like a neutral site. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. This market, and our building, is one that people want to fight in.”
Garcia returned from a two-year layoff over a contract dispute in July at Barclays, stopping Elio Rojas in the fifth round on the Carl Frampton-Leo Santa Cruz undercard.
He fought three times previously at the Madison Square Garden Theater, including a 2013 victory over former featherweight champion Orlando Salido.
In Broner, 27, Garcia meets a fighter whose talent has been overshadowed by outside-the-ring trouble, including a jail term last year for contempt of court after he failed to appear for his trial on felony assault and robbery charges.
Broner has also appeared overweight in recent social media posts.
Broner most recently edged Adrian Granados by split decision in February in Cincinnati. He is 6-2 since late 2013, the losses being unanimous-decision defeats against former welterweight title challengers Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter.
Garcia and Broner are scheduled to appear at news conferences to further discuss the bout next week in New York and in Los Angeles.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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