Danny Garcia: I’m going to win this fight

boxingnews24.com

By Jim Dower: WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia likes his chances of beating Keith Thurman to take his WBA 147lb title on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. While many in the boxing world have Thurman the favorite in this fight, Garcia feels confident that he’s going to emerge as the winner, and he’s not sorry he agreed to the unification fight.

Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) didn’t have to take the fight. He wanted to because he believes that he can get the ‘W’ and take his career to the next level.

Thurman likes to use a lot of movement. Garcia will be ready for that style o fighting. If the movement is going to be a big part of Thurman’s game on Saturday, he might have problems, because Garcia will surely be cutting off the ring on him and forcing him to brawl to a certain extent. This isn’t another one of Thurman’s mismatches against Diego Chaves, Luis Collazo, Jesus Soto Karass and Leonard Bundu. Danny Garcia has boxing skills, power and timing.

Garcia is more of a stationary fighter that waits for his opponents to come to him. That style is probably not going to work against Thurman, who likes to use what he calls “Circle fighting” against his opponents. If Garcia is just going to stand and wait, Thurman will pot shot and circle the ring to keep from getting hit. Thurman has more problems against fighters that put a lot of pressure on him. But as we saw in Thurman’s last fight against Shawn Porter, he’ll retreat all around the ring all night if he has to. Thurman often stopped moving in reverse to surprise Porter with quick combinations. By doing that, Thurman was able to land a lot of clean shots to win many of the rounds. If Garcia stands and waits for Thurman, he may get picked apart.

“I’m a true champion. The true champions take on anybody,” said Garcia at Friday’s weigh-in. Tomorrow I’m going to show the world why I’m one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. I’m going to win this fight,” said Garcia.

The 28-year-old Garcia has never lost a fight during his boxing career, so he has that going for him. However, Garcia has come close to losing on two occasions in his fights against Lamont Peterson and Mauricio Herrera. Garcia also struggled against Erik Morales in their first fight, and he also had problems against Zab Judah, Robert Guerrero and Lucas Matthysse. Those were all tough fights for Garcia. Some boxing fans think Garcia would have lost to Matthysse if he hadn’t hit him with so many low blows. Garcia’s fight against Guerrero was closer than the scores handed down by the judges.

Where is the Garcia vs. Thurman fight? Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York

When is the fight? – Saturday

Where to watch Thurman vs. Garcia? CBS TV at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m.

WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford views the Thurman-Garcia fight as a toss-up affair. He sees them both as equal due to their respective boxing skills. Crawford notes that Garcia has great timing, whereas Thurman is the more mobile of the two. Crawford sees the outcome being decided on whichever fighter fight their game better.

“It’s a 50-50,” said Terence Crawford when asked by Fighthype.com about the Thurman vs. Garcia fight. “Garcia has got the better timing, and Keith has the better legs. Each of them punch pretty hard. It’s whoever executes their game the best.”

Thurman might have the advantage in this fight because he’s the bigger guy with the faster hand speed. Garcia hasn’t been fighting in the 147lb division for long, and he’s taking a big step up in fighting one of the best if not the best fighter in this weigh class. But still, Garcia has the momentum and the amateur background to beat Thurman.

Garcia has fought guys like Thurman before in the amateur ranks, so this isn’t going to be the first time he’s had to deal with his style. Garcia has the skills to win this fight. The only question is does he have the size. Thurman blows up after he rehydrates, and he looks pretty big. He’s able to make the 147lb limit, but it’s got to be a struggle for him. One of these days in the future, Thurman may need to move up to 154 so that he doesn’t have to drain himself so much to get down in weight.

“It’s very evenly matched,” said Bellew about the Thurman vs. Garcia fight to Fighthype.com. “I think Thurman might be slightly the more technical fighter. I’m edging towards Thurman ever so slightly. You can never rule out a Philly fighter, especially with the power Danny Garcia has.”

I don’t see Thurman as the more technical of the two fighters. He’s just the bigger guy, and the fighter with the better mobility of the two. Garcia hits just as hard, and he has great technical skills. There’s nothing that Thurman can do that Garcia can’t as well. It just comes down to foot speed that Thurman has. He can be very elusive when he wants to be, and you’ve got to have a good plan to deal with all that movement. Garcia cannot let Thurman hit and run all night long, because he pile up the points and win a decision.

As Errol Spence pointed out, Thurman isn’t a macho type of fighter that is going to stand that and fight. He’s going to use movement and look to pot shot like he always does. In Thurman’s last fight against Shawn Porter, he backed up against the ropes and let Porter come forward and fight him at close range on a couple of occasions. I think the only reason Thurman did that was because he realized that Porter was smothering his own work and not getting much power on his shots by standing so close. Garcia isn’t going to smother his work. He’s always going to stand at the optimal distance to get the best power on his shots. If Thurman backs up against the ropes against Garcia, he might wind up regretting it if he gets turned into another Rod Salka.

“I like Thurman. I think Thurman has the faster feet,” said Spence to Fighthype.com. “Thurman’s not a macho guy. I he has to move around the ring and pot shot to win, he’s going to do that. He’s not going to stand there if he doesn’t have to. Definitely [he’d like to face the Thurman vs. Garcia winner]. That would be a huge match-up. That’s what boxing needs to get back to with the golden age when the best fought the best,” said Spence.

Spence is correct about Thurman not likely to stand there and fight Garcia. We’ve already seen Thurman hurt by lesser punchers than Garcia. He’s not going to be brave against a guy that can take his head off like Garcia. That would be crazy for him to do that. Thurman moves a lot for a reason. He obviously knows that his chin is not good enough, and he probably also knows he can’t take body shots very well. Thurman is one of those fighters whose punch resistance doesn’t match his physical skills.

Thurman has already said that he won’t be fighting the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence fight for another 2 years. I don’t know why Thurman would want to wait two years before he faces the winner of the Brook-Spence fight. It doesn’t make sense. If Brook beats Spence, he’s probably not going to be able to make the 147lb limit for too much longer. Thurman needs to take that fight while he can rather than letting it marinate for 2 years.