Yes, yes. I’m aware. Showtime, HBO, never the twain shall meet. But better to live in a wonderful fantasy world than a hopeless dystopia, right?
Backing up: Mikey Garcia beat Adrien Broner Saturday night on Showtime in the junior welterweight division HBO-affiliated Terence Crawford currently rules.
Broner isn’t an amazing fighter anymore, if he ever was. He’s more interested in posturing and gabbing during a fight than throwing punches. He doesn’t even look that fast these days. But he’s still one of the best opponents Garcia has faced, if not the best, and Garcia beat him easily outside of a round or three.
Garcia and Crawford are similar fighters in several regards. Both are top-10 pound-for-pound talents. Neither wastes motion. Each are excellent technicians and gifted counterpunchers. Both like to figure out their opponents slowly and then break them down, for the most part.
A meeting between the two would be a masterclass. It might be boring, OK. To hear Garcia tell it, when they met as amateurs, it was just that. But Crawford has grown since then, and by and large, he’s grown more aggressive.
Garcia might very well arrive in the ring against Crawford with a pair of significant disadvantages. Crawford is blessed with superior athleticism, and he’s the naturally bigger man, struggling to make 140 pounds these days.
But that doesn’t make the fight any less appealing. A boy can dream.
(BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Mikey Garcia and Adrien Broner exchange punches during their junior welterwight bout at the Barclays Center; Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)
