Easter (21-0, 14 KOs) has yet to be beaten but neither has Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs), who is universally regarded as one of the top handful of boxers in the world pound-for-pound. They will put those perfect records and their 135-pound belts on the line on Saturday (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Garcia, a Southern California native, will be the big crowd favorite for his first hometown fight a 2011 undercard appearance well before he won the first of his titles in four weight divisions.
Easter may think the fight will be easy for him but in preparation he acted as though it would be a serious challenge. On paper, his fourth title defense shapes up as easily as his toughest fight.
Easter left the comforts of his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, to train for the first time under the guidance of the tremendously respected trainer Kevin Cunningham, who earlier this year welcomed Easter’s close friend, Adrien Broner, to his West Palm Beach, Florida, gym.
Broner gave Cunningham his seal of approval and Easter made the change. He said the training camp for the fight with Garcia has a “different focus” than usual.
“There are plenty of distractions training back home,” Easter said. “Too comfortable. Coach Kev welcomed me to his program with open arms. This is a big fight. Different focus. So I chose to get out of town.”
So he packed his bags and went to train with Cunningham rather than longtime trainer Mike Stafford.
“I feel like this is going to be easy for me. I’m gonna win this fight. I’m too tall and I’m too fast and I got power. When I apply those things, along with my game plan and being patient, I can’t be beat.” Robert Easter Jr.
“Kevin Cunningham stayed on me every day. We focused on my skills, using my advantages and you’ll see it all on (Saturday),” Easter said. “We have a game plan, but we’re professionals in there and we both know we’ll have to make adjustments as the fight goes on. I’m going to fight my fight and leave it all in the ring. My focus is 100 percent on Mikey Garcia Saturday night. Coach Cunningham had me really working on the skills that I hadn’t been using as much in past fights. He’s helped me put together a great game plan that focuses on the advantages I have. He knows what kinds of things will give other fighters trouble.”
Although Easter is a decided underdog he has a lot going for him in the fight. He’s quicker, he’s younger (27-30), he’s taller (5-foot-11 to 5-6), he has a longer reach (76 inches to 68 inches) and he had a deeper amateur background.
One reason for Easter’s ‘dog status is that he hasn’t faced the caliber of names Garcia has. But there is also the issue of his underwhelming performance in a debatable split decision win over former junior lightweight world titlist Javier Fortuna, who failed to make weight, in January. Easter chalked that effort up to a bad night.
“I believe I fought that fight wrong and made it tougher on myself,” he said. “Instead of using my reach and my ability to box, I sort of smothered my punches. But when I fight I move on from it. We learned from it as well as every fight.”
Garcia said he Easter’s underdog status is because he’s less known than Garcia. He said he also puts little stock in his performance against Fortuna and that he expects to see Easter at his best.
Robert Easter Jr., left, won a split decision against Javier Fortuna to retain his lightweight belt in January. Photo provided by Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment
“I’ve seen the fight and believe it or not, Javier Fortuna has a weird, awkward style that makes everybody have problems,” Garcia said. “He’ll give problems to anybody no matter height or reach. Javier Fortuna is tricky, experienced, a former champion. Robert Easter Jr., sometimes gives up those height and reach advantages on his own because he’s a fighter, because he likes to fight and exchange punches and looks for a knockout. And that’s part of the reason why Fortuna had some success in a really difficult fight. But overall, I still felt that Robert won and did enough to win that fight.”
Cunningham, who guided Cory Spinks to the undisputed welterweight world title and Devon Alexander to titles in two weight classes, also trains Broner and junior lightweight world titlist Gervonta Davis. He is happy to have Easter also with him now.
“He left no stone unturned. He sacrificed everything,” Cunningham said of Easter’s effort in training camp. “He did everything that was asked of him. And he’s a talented guy. He’s naturally talented. We have a tremendous game plan. He’s been a pleasure to work with.
“Robert understands what he needs to do to, the adjustments that he needs to make,” Cunningham said. “He’s got the ability and the skill to pick it up going back, pick it up. He’s really looking sharp and I just think that he’s really going to put on a show come (Saturday).”
Garcia won a junior welterweight world title from Sergey Lipinets in his last fight in February but gave the belt up in order to return to make his first defense of his lightweight belt against Easter. It not only gives Garcia the first opportunity of his career for a unification fight but it does the same for Easter, who campaigned hard to get Garcia in the ring with him.
“Big fights like these are important to me,” Easter said. “Champion versus champion speaks loudly about who we are as men. It’s the two best guys out there fighting to decide who’s the best in the weight class.”
While pound-for-pound king and lightweight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko and his fans might disagree, Garcia-Easter is a top-notch match and the first lightweight world title unification fight since Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Juan Diaz in the ninth round to retain his world title and unify a vacant belt that was also on the line in the 2009 ESPN.com fight of the year.
“I’ve been dreaming about fights like this since I was a little kid,” Easter said. “It’s finally here and I’m going to show the world what Robert Easter Jr. is really made of.”
In the 10-round co-feature, heavyweight contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (28-1, 24 KOs), 39, a Cuba native fighting out of Miami, Florida, will have his first fight since his brutal 10th-round knockout loss to world titlist Deontay Wilder in March when he faces former title challenger Razvan Cojanu (16-3, 9 KOs), 31, a native of Romania fighting out of Burbank, California. In the opener of the tripleheader, junior welterweight prospect Mario Barrios (21-0, 13 KOs), 23, of San Antonio, will fight Jose Roman (24-2-1, 16 KOs), 30, of Garden Grove, California, in a 10-rounder.
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