“All out destruction this Friday,” is the message super featherweight prospect Maliek Montgomery Jr (17-0, 16 KOs) sent to his opponent during an exclusive interview with FightsATW. Montgomery Jr., 28, a native of Macon, Georgia, looks to add another win to his perfect record this Friday against Eridson Garcia of Houston, TX (18-1, 12 KOs).
Maliek “Mayhem” Montgomery Jr. made his professional debut in 2017 and if you feel like you should know who it is, don’t worry—you’re probably not alone. Maliek comes from a family deeply rooted in boxing. His father, Maliek Montgomery Sr., was a professional boxer who currently trains all three of his sons. Junior’s brothers are also professional boxers with undefeated records.
Montgomery Jr. was an accomplished amateur boxer who won two national Golden Gloves tournaments and was an alternate for the 2016 USA Olympic boxing team. However, as a professional, the Georgia native has yet to garner the same accomplishments he did as an amateur. Despite his undefeated record and having fought on television a few times, Maliek’s career has yet to accelerate as fast as other boxers with the same kind of pedigree as his. His journey to crack the 130 pound division’s top rankings has been arduous.
Having A Pro Career Isn’t Always As Easy As It Seems
“Coming out of the amateurs, I wasn’t one of the guys that signed on right away with a big promoter, and that held me up for years. I only had four fights within my first four years as a pro. I had a big jump in my career maybe three years back. At one point, I was fighting almost once a month, and then it started dying down again. We were trying to get the right fights, for the right purses, in front of the right type of crowds so we could build our brand,” said Montgomery Jr. to FightsATW.
However, Maliek is looking to turn the stagnant tide in his career and is optimistic that he can position himself to contend for a world title by the end of this year. Team Montgomery has hired boxing manager Triffon Petrov. Petrov has a knack for jolting the careers of talented fighters (Elijah Pierce & Jonathan Rodriguez) who have difficulty getting the kind of fights that will increase their public exposure and help them transition from prospects to world-ranked contenders.
“Great! We talked about my past hiccups on the business side of things, where I want to be moving forward, and his vision for where I should be. It just aligned, and everything is coming together,” said Montgomery Jr. about his career since hiring Petrov as his manager.
Maliek Montgomery Faces His Toughest Test, Friday on DAZN
This Friday, Eridson Garcia (18-1, 12 KOs) poses arguably the biggest test in Montgomery’s career. Garcia is a tough pressure fighter who has only tasted defeat once as a professional. Why is this the fight to jump-start Maliek’s career after a one-year layoff?
Less than 3 weeks away from our Cinco De Mayo showdown at the Owls Nest Houston! 🥊#BoxfestIX | @Daznboxing | #RedOwlBoxing pic.twitter.com/kb472e9mZt
— Red Owl Boxing (@redowlbox) April 17, 2024
“With his record, the fact that he’s also fought on television, and what he’s been able to accomplish in his career, it puts me in a perfect position to make the claim that I’m supposed to be at the top and be where I need to be in boxing,” said Montgomery about what defeating a fighter like Garcia will mean for his career.
The super featherweight division is among boxing’s most challenging and talented divisions. It houses monster world champions like O’Shaquie Foster, Lamont Roach, and Emanuel Navarrete, as well as top contenders like Robinson Conceicao, Leigh Wood, and Hector Luis Garcia, to name a few.
Where does Montgomery Jr. see himself among the top fighters within the division? “I see myself at the very top! I would love maybe another one or two fights after this one and then being put in a position where I could fight for one of those titles at 130 lbs.,” said Maliek convincingly.
However, Team Montgomery recognizes that the journey to the top of the division starts with not only a win but also a stellar performance against Eridson Garcia. He’s optimistic that he will fight someone in the top five or even challenge a world champion later this year, calling out Ray Vargas and Lamont Roach as possible future opponents. Montgomery also told FightsATW that he has grown mentally and intellectually from the fighter he used to be. He told us that he can quickly make assessments, taking less time to make the necessary adjustments to win a fight.
So, what can fans expect from team Montgomery this Friday night when he faces Eridson Garcia? “All out destruction—seek and destroy! I haven’t been in the ring in a year, and I want to fight! I’m itching to be in the ring badly. I don’t see anything stopping me from getting there and destroying. We are on a mission for one of those straps,” said Montgomery Jr.
My Take
When I asked Maliek Montgomery Jr. to tell our readers what he does when he’s not boxing, Junior was stumped and almost looked at me like he didn’t understand what I was asking. His response was, “Man, I couldn’t even tell you. I live, breathe, and eat boxing.” That is the kind of mentality that makes fighters like Maliek a problem for his opponents. If you’ve ever watched Montgomery fight, you know he has an uncanny ability to lock in on an opponent like a precision-guided missile once it acquires its target. Maliek is a pressure fighter with power in both hands and a penetrating inside style of fighting who breaks his opponents down from the torso on up.
Eridson Garcia, too, is a pressure fighter who feels comfortable walking down his opponent. This Friday night on DAZN, fans can expect a war of attrition when these two collide. However, Maliek’s swift inside fighting and power will give him the win this Friday. Under his new manager, if Montgomery Jr. wins impressively, he can finally place himself among the division’s top tanked fighters probably by year’s end.
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