Lets first state the obvious. Danny Garcia not with some possible close decisions that went his way, is undefeated. Danny Garcia is also in one of the best divisions in the sport of boxing.
Ever since stepping in the ring with Lucas Matthysse on the Mayweather-Canelo undercard in September 2013, Garcia’s stock and reputation with fan’s has been on a steady decline. It started with his close decision victory over Mauricio Herrera in March of 2014 in Puerto Rico.
In what was supposed to be a welcoming party for Garcia to introduce him to a potential Puerto Rican fanbase turned out to do more harm to him as most observers viewed him losing a close but clear decision to Herrera. Herrera was never granted a rematch against Garcia and then disaster struck.
In August of 2014, in what will be forever criticized as the card that had match ups with such big mismatches that it started a social media trend that would follow Garcia to this day. Instead of facing fellow top ten junior welterweights or fellow Al Haymon promoted fighter, Lamont Peterson, Garcia looked to the 130-pound division and took on Rod Salka.
The match up was only Garcia’s second bout of the year and was highly criticized as a mismatch of the highest order. Not to mention the bout took place at a catchweight of 142, that didn’t help the case for Garcia. Cherry emoji’s followed Garcia throughout the months before and after the bout, in which he took in stride as he disposed of Salka in just two rounds proving that the match was as big a mismatch as fans and critics had thought.
Garcia seemed unwilling to apologize for participating in such a mismatch and would follow the Salka bout with the long awaited Lamont Peterson bout.
The bout with Peterson took place in April of 2015 and was the second headlining bout under the PBC platform on NBC. This was another catch weight bout for Garcia at 143 pounds. The first half of the bout went back and forth as Peterson used movement to avoid many of Garcia’s punches, but Garcia was the fighter coming forward pressing the action.
The momentum shifted in the second half of the bout as Peterson became the stalker and seemed to sweep the second half of the bout by backing up Garcia and landing the harder power punches. The judges once again, in another close fight, gave Garcia the decision. Garcia was in the same boat that he was after the Herrera bout, where a large majority saw him losing a close decision. Garcia was now ready to move up to the welterweight division and test the waters there against the best. Well maybe not at first.
Certainly not a mismatch as big as the Salka bout, Garcia made his welterweight debut against semi-retired, part-time announcer Paulie Malignaggi. The bout took place at the Barclays Center in August 2015. Garcia stopped Malignaggi after nine one sided rounds.
Now that Garcia has had a couple of bouts above the 140 pound limit and had a bout with a former welter weight champion it is now time for him to step up against the best in the division.
On January 23rd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Garcia will face off against Robert Guerrero in what could be Guerrero’s last chance at the big stage to show that he can still be a worthy title contender.
Garcia is once again the heavy favorite in the bout and will likely be the winner at the end of the night. Should Garcia prevail he should be looking to take on the other welterweights in the division such as Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and Kell Brook. Even a rematch against Amir Khan who he stopped in four rounds in July of 2012 would be a welcomed bout.
Garcia cannot continue on the same road he has in 2014 and 2015 or his career will eventually stagnant to the point where fans won’t care when he’s fighting anymore. Garcia could be one of the bigger faces of the PBC, if he is willing to put himself out there as a champion who is willing to take on all comers.
2016 will be the year where we see what Danny Garcia is all about. Is he satisfied with what he accomplished at 140 and no longer needs a competitive fight or is he willing to dare to be great and take on the best the welterweight division has to offer.
– Hector Franco / @MrHector_Franco
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