By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Mikey Garcia felt completely comfortable fighting at 140 pounds Saturday night.

He conceded, though, that he might not be as big a puncher at super lightweight as he was when he fought at 126, 130 and 135 pounds. Adrien Broner took Garcia’s strongest shots well during their 12-round fight Saturday night, but Broner out-weighed Garcia in the ring and has displayed a reliable chin during his nine-year pro career.

Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs), the WBC lightweight champion, moved up from 135 pounds to 140 to box Broner, who’s the same height as Garcia (5-feet-6). He didn’t drop or stop Cincinnati’s Broner (33-3, 23 KOs, 1 NC), but the disciplined, fundamentally sound Garcia out-boxed and out-worked the former four-division champion on his way to winning a 12-round unanimous decision at Barclays Center.

“Look, I feel really comfortable at 140 right now,” Garcia said during a post-fight press conference. “We had a tough opponent in front of us with Adrien Broner – strong, big guy. And I felt my power was still there, my speed, my footwork, my reflexes. The only difference is because I am fighting bigger men, they can take a bigger punch. And that might be translated like my power doesn’t carry on. But I feel strong.”

The 29-year-old Garcia won by wide distances on all three scorecards (117-111, 116-112, 116-112). The Oxnard, California, native took Broner’s power well, too, even though Broner was bigger than him by the time their fight started.

“I felt the size advantage maybe,” Garcia said. “He was a little heavier, but I didn’t feel the power. He landed a few shots, but nothing really hurt me. He let his hands go to the body, you know, some good, hard shots, but not enough to hurt me.

“I don’t know. I didn’t get caught effectively, either. If I would’ve got caught with something really, really solid, then maybe I would’ve said, ‘F*ck, I felt the power. But I wasn’t caught effective like that. So honestly, I didn’t feel the power.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.