Garcia: I want to defend my titles in Philadelphia against Adrien Broner

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Undefeated WBA/WBC junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia (30-0) has fought in catch-weights in his past couple bouts in preparation for a move up to the welterweight division. After a poor showing against former IBF junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson, Garcia has reevaluated his situation. The Philadelphia native plans to move down to 140 pounds to defend his junior welterweight titles.

Garcia, 27, has mentioned former three-division world champion Adrien Broner (30-1) as a possible opponent in a July clash if the brash boxer is up for the challenge.

Broner is currently scheduled to fight on a PBC card on June 20th at an unknown location against an unknown opponent, but a fight against Danny Garcia would be an interesting matchup. Their personalities are equivalent to one another, which explains why the two are very close friends. If they do fight, however, the grins and smiles they exhibit to each other outside of the ring, will turn into smiles of ferocity.

Garcia spoke about the potential fight with Fight Hype.

“He [Broner] is a cool guy, business is business, but I say we can do it next in Philadelphia for all the marbles in July,” said Garcia. “I want to defend my titles in Philadelphia. I think I owe my fans in Philadelphia a title defense. If I can’t make that happen, then we’ll look to go up to 147.”

If Garcia fights another fight at welterweight, it’s time that both the WBA and WBC strip Garcia of his titles. In February, the WBC granted Garcia permission to participate in the Garcia-Peterson catch-weight fight. It’s been close to a year since undefeated Ukrainian boxer Viktor Postol (27-0) knocked out Selcuk Aydin to win their WBC eliminator. As a result, Postol was forced to participate in a stay-busy fight last month against a non-entity in Jake Giuriceo, a fight that he won in an eight-round unanimous decision. Garcia should be facing Postol, and if Postol really wants the fight with Garcia, he may have to fight in a catch-weight fight just to get it, and perhaps that is Garcia’s plan.

On the other hand, both Garcia and Broner share Al Haymon as an adviser, and it would be an easy fight to make, which would likely be on his own Premier Boxing Champions series on NBC. It would likely draw huge ratings, but in a fight where both men are buddy-buddy with one another, this could be an underwhelming display, but never say never.

A rematch against Lamont Peterson would draw even more ratings and earn Garci even more money, but it’s likely not going to happen. Garcia is trying his best to emulate Floyd Mayweather Jr. when it comes to his business-style approach to boxing – the difference being that Mayweather doesn’t take the type of punishment that Garcia has taken in his past couple fights – against the likes of Peterson and Mauricio Herrera, two fights that Garcia clearly lost, but was saved in the end by questionable judging. If that fight were to happen, I believe the fight would play out the same way, but Peterson – instead of staying on the outside in the opening rounds – would dictate the pace from the opening bell.