Angel Garcia Says IBF Title Should Have Been Danny’s 3 Times

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Angel GarciaDanny Garcia’s trainer/father Angel Garcia spoke with the press and Josh Grayer of Tha Boxing Voice was there to get his thoughts on the IBF title that Lamont Peterson presently holds and how this fight is the third time Danny is being robbed of the chance to win it.

The elder Garcia believes that the Peterson camp has been a little too confident in the lead up to his big showdown with Danny Garcia on PBC boxing. Angel welcomes it and believes it will work to his son’s advantage on fight night.

“I give’em respect for putting gloves on but Peterson, honest to God with you, he think in his mind that he’s gonna go in there April 11th, it’s gonna be an easy night for him… he already sees himself at the top of the mountain, but it’s not gonna happen like that.”

Angel Garcia continued, “I want him to think like that, I want him to act confident because I want him to come forward.”

Garcia then goes on to talk about Peterson’s obsession with the Khan and Matthysse fights and reminds the press that Garcia beat these guys too. He then went into a little bit of the history that has allowed Peterson to have the IBF title going into the fight this weekend. He also explained how this would be the third time Danny would have been able to fight for (and win) that title if it weren’t for a bit of serendipity in Peterson’s favor.

“He’s lookin back but he lost to [Khan and Matthysse] on paper, in black and white he lost. ‘Cause Khan, they took it back… the only reason [Peterson] is the IBF champ still today… We not fightin for the title, we woulda been fightin for the title cuz that woulda been Danny twice already cuz he woulda won with Khan then Matthysse was a catchweight, he woulda beat him for the title, that woulda been twice now there another catchweight on it so the third time he gonna lose the title…”

Okay, that’s a bit of a messy way of explaining the situation, so I will do my best to break it down.

First of all, on paper Peterson did not lose to Amir Khan, he won. It is in the record books as a win. What Garcia is pointing to is the fact that there was some controversy regarding the scoring, and a rematch was ordered. This rematch never came after Peterson tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. In Angel’s reasoning, Khan would have had the IBF championship going into the fight with Danny Garcia that he eventually lost. Whether you agree with him or not, in his explanation, that’s the first time Danny would have won that belt.

The second time should have come when Danny Garcia beat Lucas Matthysse back in September of 2013. Earlier that year Lamont Peterson got dismantled by Lucas Matthysse within 3 rounds of their 2013 fight. Unfortunately for both Matthysse and later on Danny Garcia, Peterson retained that IBF belt because the fight was fought at a catchweight. Angel maintains that Matthysse should have had the IBF title going into his clash with Danny.

In Angel Garcia’s estimation, this upcoming fight with Peterson is the third time Danny should be fighting for the IBF title. Alas, this one is also at a catchweight and no titles are on the line. It doesn’t really matter anyway because Angel feels his son has already proved he is the best at 140 lbs.

“So at the end of the day for me, Danny is the IBF champ of the world.”

Although some of Angel’s logic is pretty sound, it’s hard to feel bad for Danny. He is just as guilty of not defending at a legitimate 140 as Lamont Peterson is. Any opportunities that Danny has missed at the expense of catch weights seem to be in line with how he also has chosen to conduct business. Hopefully this fight is the end of all of that, as Danny looks to move up to welterweight in the near future.

PBC on NBC presents another night of prime-time boxing on April 11th with the main event featuring Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson.