Undefeated Puerto Rican-American Junior welterweight WBC, WBA and Ring title champion Danny “Swift” Garcia stopped Erik Morales with a brutal left hook at 1:23 of the fourth round that sent Morales spinning like an airplane propeller sending him crashing to the canvas and halfway out the ring. Garcia cemented himself as one of the hardest hitting fighters at junior welterweight. The evolution of Danny Garcia has been a remarkable process for fans to witness and be a part of. It’s almost unfathomable to believe this is the same kid that took on Ashley Theophane in February 2010, to a split decision win on ESPN2, in a fight where many felt Theophane deserved the decision.
That very fight I believe is when the transformation began for Danny Garcia, scoring 4 straight knockouts until confronting Nate Campbell winning by wide unanimous decision, a fight that was also his debut with advisor/manager, Al Haymon. From that point on Garcia would rapidly step up in competition or how his father Angel Garcia puts it “Danny was fed to the wolves,” constantly being put in as the opponent, yet defying the doubters.
Next Garcia would win a horribly judged split decision win over Kendall Holt were I had Garcia losing the first two rounds then dominating the next 10. In his first major title shot again Garcia was put in as the opponent to the more popular, marketable, Mexican living legend Erik Morales, with dreams and aspirations of a possible more lucrative rematch with Manny Pacquiao. Garcia was put in as the undefeated sacrificial lamb. For Morales, a win over an upcoming undefeated prospect would make the rematch with Pacquiao easier to sell to the paying public. Garcia would again become the monkey wrench in Golden Boys plans dropping Morales in the 11th round and defeating the living legend by unanimous decision.
Garcia would be the underdog yet again. Going up against the Bolton, England star Amir “King” Khan and probably caused the upset of the year by battering Khan from pillar to post after taking the first two rounds to get his timing down and land the left hook that would be later called a “lucky punch” by many, fans and media included. “In boxing there’s no such thing as a lucky punch, you either ready or you’re not. The punches that hurt the most are the ones you don’t see, and that’s what I’m hitting these guys with. I’m setting them up with shots and I’m landing the big shot and putting them down,” said Garcia.
Thing is, last Saturday Garcia was able to land this punch again, perfecting it with every fight and putting it on full display this past Saturday. “I don’t even think my left hook is my best punch, everyone is just falling for it, and it’s just landing. As soon as I feel my opponents feeling weakened, that’s when I sit down and turn my shots, and that’s exactly what I did for this fight the fight before and everyone else I knocked out,” explained Garcia.
Garcia is the top guy at junior welterweight, and though a case can be made for Lucas Matthysse who technically lost to both Zab Judah and Devon Alexander, even if the majority feels he deserved the nod in both fights. “Lucas Matthysse is not one of the best at 140lb he doesn’t even have a title, I know I can beat him I can beat anyone at 140lb,” expressed Garcia at the post fight press conference.
Another name that’s emerged at junior welterweight that fight fans are excited about is “Bam Bam” Brandon Rios. Rios made his debut at junior welterweight on the 13th of October when he had a fight of the year candidate with Mike Alvarado. It was a great back and forth all action affair resulting in a TKO in the 7th round as Pat Russell stepped in and halted the action due to Alvarado receiving numerous unanswered blows by Rios.
An interesting turn of events took place as Max Kellerman joined Brandon Rios center stage for the post fight interview. Rios was named as a possible next opponent for Manny Pacquiao, which to me was ironic since this was Rios first fight at 140lb and he just beat a guy with a résumé that wasn’t anything to write home about. “I understand boxing and it’s obvious that the winner of Manny Pacquiao Juan Manuel Marquez is going to fight the winner of Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, they’re Top Rank [Promotions] fighters and Golden Boy [Promotions] and Top Rank doesn’t even do business together. That’s why the commentator [Max Kellerman] didn’t even bother asking him, because they know Golden Boy and Top Rank doesn’t even work together, they don’t even like each other. So that’s the reason they said Pacquiao; the commentator was just being realistic, that’s just Top Rank and that’s what they’re going to do, and that’s why they said that,” explained Garcia.
As for a matchup between him and Rios, Garcia isn’t against it, but feels Rios may still have some proving to do, stating, “I feel like everybody who has to get a shot at the title has to fight a top guy. I beat [Amir] Khan, I see a lot of fighters out here that never beat nobody and are champions they’re all hyped up and they never beat nobody good. To be honest I can’t see nobody at 140lb [junior welterweight] beating me right now. I just feel I’m too smart, too strong, and I’m just on top of my game right now.” The young Philly native is flying high on accomplishments of 3-0-2 this year puts him in the ballots for fighter of the year candidate, “I can’t see guys who fight [Rios Style] like that, you hit me, I hit you, beating me I’m too smart for that,” Garcia told ThaBoxingVoice.com
Don’t worry all you super Judah fans, Garcia is open to that match up as well but first he’ll be taking a well deserved vacation. “I’m thinking more like February or March, I just had two fights back to back in like 6 months, and I don’t want to burn my body out. I’m only 24 years old so I think in 3 or 4 months is good enough. But whatever they want that’s what I’ll do, if they feel that’s [possible Zab Judah fight] a good fight and we’re going to sell a lot tickets then, that’s what we going to do,” elaborated Garcia.
For Full Audio of this interview click here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/10/21/daniel-gaele-anthony-mundine-face-off-on-thaboxingvoice
