Danny Garcia is ready to head to junior middleweight!
Well it looks Danny “Swift” Garcia’s (36-3, 21 KO’s) days at welterweight are at an end. In a recent interview with Fight Hype, the two-division champion voiced his desire to make his exodus. Not only is the news not surprising, it comes as rather expected. During his tenure at super lightweight, Swift was a dominant force to be reckoned with.
Garcia first defeated boxing legend Erik Morales on March 24, 2012 to capture the WBC World Super Lightweight title. In his next match, he beat Amir Khan to add the WBA Super Lightweight title to his collection. Garcia would defend the WBC title five times, and the WBA four times, before moving up in weight. Before leaving 140-pounds, Swift danced with Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt, Erik Morales (twice), Zab Judah, Mauricio Herrera and Lucas Matthysse. This impressive line of killers, and his welterweight opposition, is why Garcia has one of the best resumes currently in the sport.
“Honestly, I would like to go up to 154lbs…me and [Keith] Thurman could fight at 154… I feel like my goal in boxing was to be a three-division world champion, 140, 147 and 154. And I feel like I fought everybody at 147, I fought everybody at 140.
“I thought I beat Thurman, I thought I beat Porter, but I feel like I did everything I was supposed to do at 147 even though I didn’t unify the division like I wanted to. But I still became champion, so I feel like the next chapter in my career is at 154.”
A ROUGH PATCH
Due to his impressive run at super lightweight, there were big expectations for his welterweight run. Unfortunately for Swift, his time at 147 has been anything but what he expected. Garcia began well enough by picking up wins over Sam Vargas, Paul Malignaggi, Robert Guerrero and Lamont Peterson. Although, many believe that he struggled mightily with Peterson and barely won that contest. Yet, he was able to secure another world title against Guerrero.
Then on March 4, 2017, Keith Thurman served Garcia his first professional loss. A year and a half later, Swift would lose again to Shawn “Showtime” Porter on September 9, 2018. On December 5, 2020 Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr served Garcia his third heartbreaking loss. In fact, since moving to the welterweight division, Swift has lost every single step-up fight that he has taken. This is why it is very unsurprising to hear that he is moving up in weight.
RELATED: Keith Thurman on Spence vs Garcia: “Danny Was Scared The Whole Time!”
BETTER DAYS TO COME?
Naturally, Garcia is hopeful that by not having to cut the extra weight, he will be a better fighter in the ring on fight night. Along with moving up for physical reasons, Swift believes that he will be the biggest star in the division. As the biggest name, the Philly native hopes to be able to make some big matches soon. While this all sounds great, we will have to sit back and see how his next move unfolds.
“If I go to 154, I am still a bigger name than all them dudes at 154…I’m definitely going to be the biggest name in that division and they need somebody that can help bring more light to that division. So, at the end of the day, you know how boxing is.
“Boxing is all about matchmaking, so if I get the right matches at 154, that’s all its about! I’m not going to go up and fight the biggest guy. I’ll do a couple fights, break myself in and then we go for the gusto like I always do!”
By: Bakari Simpson
