Mikey Garcia excited about relaunching his boxing career

As festive Mexican music played in the background, Mikey Garcia unloaded punches on his sparring partners that sounded like celebratory fireworks. He pounded a left hook to the body and followed that with another to the head.

Flashing a powerful jab, mighty uppercuts and sharp feints, Garcia, 28, showed off the skills that made him an unbeaten two-division world champion, while touting his anticipated return after nearly a 2½-year absence.

Garcia (34-0, 28 knockouts) became so deeply involved in a dispute with his former promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., that the Southland fighter kept himself occupied in real estate investment until the lawsuit he filed seeking his freedom took a favorable turn.

“They were afraid of things being ruled in my favor,” Garcia said of a late-March courtroom development. “They wanted me out of their sight and released me.”

After leaving Top Rank without financial penalty, Garcia proclaimed, “I’m 35-0 with 29 knockouts, if you count Top Rank. … I’m happy with what happened. I can show it as a victory and let everyone know they have to be careful with how they do business and who they do business with.”

Garcia is currently in talks with powerful boxing manager Al Haymon and is expected to fight on either a Premier Boxing Champions or Mayweather Promotions card in July or August. Garcia said no opponent has been mentioned yet, but he’d like it to be a 140-pound fight against a top-15 foe.

Garcia, trained by his brother Robert in Riverside, hasn’t fought since Jan. 25, 2014, when he successfully defended his World Boxing Organization super-featherweight belt against Juan Carlos Burgos by unanimous decision.

Before that, Garcia defeated former or current world champions Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez and Roman “Rocky” Martinez in succession.

Yet, negotiations with Top Rank crumbled over a planned fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa in May 2014 at the Forum.

Garcia said he had been told by his prior manager, Cameron Dunkin, that his Top Rank contract expired in February 2014, but Top Rank disputed that. Fighting Gamboa for a vacant lightweight title could have triggered an extension of Garcia’s Top Rank deal, but Garcia said that when the company asked him to sign a formal extension as part of the arrangement, he balked.

“I said, ‘No more. If you think your extension is valid, why do you want me to sign something else?’ ” Garcia said.

Irked after being told that Gamboa and his promoter, rapper 50 Cent, would earn $1.5 million compared with his $1 million, Garcia said he communicated to Top Rank, “Forget it, I won’t take the fight.”

He said he was threatened with being “put on the shelf,” and later offered an insulting $150,000 in early 2015.

“It was what it was, and is what it is,” Top Rank executive Carl Moretti said. “We didn’t deal with him. We dealt with his management. If there was a lack of communication, maybe he should’ve asked us directly. But as is the case with all fighters, we deal with their management.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I thought we did a pretty good job with Mikey Garcia’s career for what he brought to the table and his marketability. He didn’t think that, so, it’s like a marriage … it ends.”

Garcia says he’s been emboldened by the legal victory. He recently purchased a home on 11 acres in Riverside County, and has been twice courted in person by Mayweather, who’s looking to land a big name for his promotional company.

Mayweather has been so interested in meeting Garcia that he took a helicopter from downtown Los Angeles to Riverside to avoid a three-hour, rush-hour car ride.

Garcia said he believes he’s conquered ring rust by steadily training in his brother’s gym during his layoff. On Wednesday, he sparred eight rounds.

“I’ll show everyone I’m better,” Garcia said. “I’m hungrier now, willing to put more out there and show how good a fighter I really am. To me, I’ve only accomplished a little taste of what I can do. The best part of my career is next.”

He said the layoff has resulted in his body growing, inspiring him to pursue titles at lightweight, junior-welterweight and, in boxing’s deepest division, welterweight, before he’s through.

“That would make me a five-division champion,” Garcia said. “The previous fights, it was getting boring. The same routine, the business problems – I think if I would’ve kept going I would’ve been considering retirement right now. I compare it to a new video game. At first, you’re addicted to it, but once you beat it, you’re like, ‘Ehhh, whatever,’ it’s not a big deal anymore.

“Now with the bigger challenges, I want to stay around. I feel like I could fight for a title right now.”