In a recent interview regarding his upcoming fight with ring veteran Zab Judah, current light welterweight champion Danny Garcia promised it was going to be “another epic performance” on his behalf. While to some more casual fight fans might think that the young star sounds cocky, looking back at his performances in 2012, it sounds like he intends on following a pattern.
After defeating Eric Morales in March of last year, a fight in which he was an underdog, he faced a superstar in his weight class, Amir Khan. Once again the underdog, Garcia stopped Khan in the fourth round, quieting the non-believers. After stopping Morales in a rematch in October, Garcia closed the year in many books as fighter of the year.
Besides beating the odds, Garcia has become known for backing up the words of his trainer and father Angel, who often has choice words for his opponents at the press conferences before the fights. “We bring drama at the press conference and end it in fashion with a knockout, that’s how we do.” Says Garcia of the most recent press conference in which the fight with Judah was officially announced.
Garcia does not consider the bad blood what makes this fight personal “anytime you go in the ring its personal, you can die in the ring, you cant go in there thinking its just your friend and your gonna make money and go home, he’s trying to kill you, so I have to go in there and do my job and take him out.”
While Garcia has won fights both via stoppage and KO, he feels confident that he will be able to knock Judah out come February 9th. “I’m a puncher and in boxing anyone can be knocked out.” He continues, “I’m not going to go in there and look for the knockout, I’m going to be ready for twelve rounds and if the knockout comes, it comes. You know, I’m going to try and throw shots to knock him out though.”
In regards to what this fight means to Garcia he feels that, “every fight I go out there and fight has to make a statement. If I go out there and loose everyone will say ‘oh he’s not as good as everyone says he is, he’s overhyped”.
Adding his emphasis on showing the world he is a “true champion”. Garcia shows little concern over facing a southpaw in Judah, since he hasn’t faced one since his amateur career, but feels confident that he can do whatever he has to do to get the job done on fight night “He is going to try to prove something in front of his home town, he seems motivated, my job is to put 110% in at the gym, run, stay focused and go in there and fight my fight.”