This past summer, International Boxing Hall of Famer and founder of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya alluded to former 140 champion Danny “Swift” Garcia as a “cherry picker” over social media. This sparked an immediate reaction by Garcia’s fiery dad and trainer Angel Garcia, as well as an examination of Garcia’s recent choice in opposition, and the dubious reputation he’s gained in the eyes of many.
Garcia (31 – 0, 18 KO’s) ditched his 140-pound titles this year and moved up in weight to the talent-rich 147-pound division. As he’s preparing for his second battle at this weight class against rugged veteran Robert Guerrero, Garcia had some interesting words regarding Amir Imam, a 140-pound prospect who was recently defeated by Adrian Granados.
In an interview published by FightHype, Garcia smiled as he professed this regarding “The Young Master” Imam, “oh yea, that’s the kid that called me a cherry picker, but hey, it’s not as easy as it looks, you can say I never fought nobody, but when you supposed to beat somebody and you lose, you shouldn’t worry about me, worry about yourself.”
What’s interesting here is that Danny appeared to feel some retribution for those firing shots at him. There might be some credence to Danny’s rejection of the “cherry picker” label, as a glance at his BoxRec is filled with big names and former champions. At a new weight class and just 27 years old, the future might be even grander for the undefeated native Philadelphian.
Imam, who suffered a loss against a big underdog, should be able to bounce back at 25 years old. However, this did not stop Garcia from pouring more salt on his wounds.
Garcia continued on by saying, “realistically in boxing he’s the prospect, he’s supposed to win that fight, he’s supposed to fight for a world title, so you should never worry about Danny Garcia, you should worry about you”.
The genesis of this “cherry picker” label is that it is not based on fact, but more likely due to an obscure opponent he fought in 2014 named, you guessed it, Rod Salka.
But does anyone remember who Patrick Charpentier was? Or remember Steve Forbes? Point is, just about every fighter, including Oscar, has “cherry picked” in their career at a point when they were at the top. Counting Guerrero, this is Danny’s second fight at 147 pounds (and second consecutive fight against a former world titlist), so history is far from being written in stone at the present time. Perhaps this label will cause Garcia to carry a chip on his shoulder and those who doubt him might feel his wrath.
