Thurman unimpressed with Danny Garcia’s power

By BoxingNews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time’ Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) sees nothing in the offensive arsenal of WBC 147lb champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) that worries him about their fight on March 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Thurman sees Garcia as a basic puncher, who doesn’t have the punching power to hurt him in his estimation.

Thurman notes that Danny Garcia couldn’t drop Mauricio Herrera, Robert Guerrero or Lamont Peterson. He believes that if he couldn’t knock those guys down, then he surely won’t be able to put him down on the canvas either.

“He’s a solid, basic puncher,” said Thurman about Danny Garcia. “He’s got a good amateur background, and we acknowledge that. He does find ways to win. But ultimately, he doesn’t have a jab, and he relies on his power punches for victory. He didn’t knock down Herrera. He didn’t knockdown Guerrero. He didn’t knockdown Lamont Peterson. He’s not knockdown down Keith Thurman,” said Thurman.

Thurman shouldn’t assume too much about Danny Garcia not having enough power to drop him, because he does hit very hard. Just because Garcia couldn’t knock down Peterson, Herrera and Guerrero doesn’t mean he doesn’t hit hard. Herrera and Guerrero can take single shots really well. Peterson was fighting defensively in the first six rounds of his fight against Danny Garcia.

It wasn’t until the second half of the fight that Peterson finally came out of his shell, and started attacking him with body shots and pressure. Peterson’s body shots seemed to drain the power out of Garcia’s punches. But if Peterson had attacked Garcia earlier in the fight when he was still fresh, we might have seen Peterson knocked out.

Thurman has remarkable boxing skills going for him, and he’s very good at evading pressure. But he’s going to need to come forward at some point to mix it up with Garcia. When he does that, he’s going to be vulnerable to his left hook. If Thurman can handle Garcia’s punching power, then he’ll have a very good chance of winning the fight. Thurman will need to put his energy into his circle boxing in the first six rounds to avoid trouble.

Garcia looked good in his last fight against Samuel Vargas. That was impressive stuff from Garcia.

Thurman had problems beating Shawn Porter last year in July. It was such a hard fight for Thurman that he chose to take the remainder of 2016 off. Thurman only fought once last year. That’s not good news. If Thurman is going to be fighting just once a year, he’s not going to be able to stay sharp enough for him to beat the top fighters. He also won’t have much to show for his boxing career when it’s over.

The Thurman-Garcia fight will be televised on Premier Boxing Champion on CBS on March 4. The start time is at 9:00 p.m. ET.