Background and career
Miguel Angel Garcia Cortez (born December 15, 1987), best known as Mikey Garcia, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2021. He held multiple world championships in four weight classes from featherweight to light welterweight, and challenged once for the IBF welterweight title.
Born to Mexican parents, Miguel Angel's father, Eduardo, was an amateur boxer and trainer of world champion boxer Fernando Vargas at La Colonia Youth Boxing Club. His older brother, Roberto was a professional boxer and a former IBF Super Featherweight Champion who lost his belt to the late Diego Corrales. His oldest brother, Daniel, was a boxer and trainer. He has been featured on ABC's show American Latino TV and he talked about balancing studies with the demands of boxing. Garcia has said he grew up in a "gang-related neighborhood" in Oxnard, California. Garcia said that his parents were both strawberry pickers.
Garcia started his amateur career at the age of fourteen. In 2003, he won a silver medal at the National Junior Olympic Championships in the 125 lb division. In 2004, he won a gold medal at the National Junior Golden Gloves Championships and a silver medal at the National Police Athletic League Championships, both in the 132 lb division. In 2005, he won a bronze medal at the National Golden Gloves Championships and a gold medal at the National Police Athletic League Championships, both in the 132 lb division.
2003 National Junior Olympic Championships (Silver Medal, 125 lbs) 2004 National Junior Golden Gloves Championships (Gold Medal, 132 lbs) 2004 National Police Athletic League Championships (Silver Medal, 132 lbs) 2005 National Golden Gloves Championships (Bronze Medal, 132 lbs) 2005 National Police Athletic League Championships (Gold Medal, 132 lbs)
Garcia is known as a patient fighter with good punching power, a natural right-hander who likes to switch to southpaw during some of his fights. He turned pro in 2006 and signed with Bob Arum's Top Rank. Garcia was undefeated in his first 20 professional fights with 17 of them coming by way of knockout. In April 2010, Mikey Garcia beat the veteran Tomas Villa by T.K.O. in the first round, to win the USBA Featherweight Championship. He then beat Matt Remillard to win the WBO NABO Featherweight Championship. This would not only be the last boxing bout but also the last event Nick Charles would broadcast, Charles would die a few days later from cancer. In his next fight HBO asked Garcia to turn down a world title shot against Billy Dib to fight on the undercard of Sebastian Zbik vs. Julio César Chávez Jr. After his win over Rafaël Guzmán, Garcia sent his well wishes to Genaro Hernández who was struggling with cancer, Hernández would die a few days later. Months later he beat Juan Carlos Martinez in under four rounds at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Garcia's first major step up in competition came on January 19, 2013 against WBO Featherweight champion and Ring No. 1 ranked featherweight, Orlando Salido. His fight with Salido was originally supposed to happen on November 10, 2012 at Wynn Las Vegas but Salido broke his finger and had to pull out of the fight with Garcia fighting Jonathan Victor Barros as a late replacement. Garcia would get his chance again In front of a near sell out crowd of 4,850 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Garcia dominated the bout from the very beginning, keeping Salido at range with the jab. Garcia knocked Salido down four times early on in the fight, building up a large lead on the scorecards. During the 8th round, Salido accidentally clashed heads with Garcia, causing Garcia's nose to break. The fight was stopped between rounds, with the decision going to the scorecards. Garcia won with the scores of 79–70, 79–69, 79–69 to win his first world title. Speaking of the headbutt, Garcia said, "I had the perfect fight going on. I was beating him up good, and then he drove his head into my face -- but it was accidental." Garcia earned a career-high $220,000 purse for the fight.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
