Danny Garcia (Boxer)
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Danny Óscar Garcia (born March 20, 1988) is an American
professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
. He has held multiple world championships in two
weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...
, including the unified
World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...
(WBA) ( Super version),
World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...
(WBC), ''
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'' magazine, and lineal
light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...
titles between 2012 and 2015, and the WBC
welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
title from 2016 to 2017.


Early life

Garcia was born in
North Philadelphia North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is immediately north of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as ...
to Puerto Rican parents. His mother was from Bayamón and his father was from Naguabo. His father, Ángel, was also a boxer who introduced him to boxing, taking him to Philadelphia's Harrowgate Boxing Club when he was ten years old, which was the minimum age allowed by local law for a minor to train. Ángel has since been Danny's primary boxing coach. Having been raised in the city with the second-largest Puerto Rican community in the United States, Danny identified with his heritage, stating early in his career the desire to become the "next great Puerto Rican fighter". Danny Garcia admired Boxing Hall of Famer Carlos Ortiz as his favorite boxer and considered Ortiz's fight against Lenny Matthews in Philadelphia among the most memorable he had ever witnessed. Garcia finished his amateur career with 107 wins 13 losses.Danny now has three children with Trump Supporter girlfriend Erica Mendez.


Amateur highlights

* 2006 U.S. national champion * 2005 Tammer Tournament champion * 2005 Under-19 national champion


Professional career


Light welterweight


Early career

Garcia made his professional debut on November 17, 2007, at the Borgata Hotel Casino in
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...
against Mike Denby. He opened up by throwing power shots, but it was a short right that sent Denby to the canvas. Another right put Denby down again in a neutral corner. Garcia moved in for the knockout, and sent Denby down for the third and final time with a right-left combination. After the third knockdown, the referee waved the bout over. His next fight took place on the undercard of the
Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...
Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and boxing trainer, trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world champi ...
superfight on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. Garcia defeated Jesús Villareal by second-round technical knockout. On January 11, 2008, at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California, Garcia defeated Marlo Córtez by second-round knockout. With precise accurate punches, he disabled Cortéz, dropping him with a left hook early in the second round, forcing the referee to stop the contest. On March 15, 2008, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Garcia fought Charles Wade. He utilized his speed and quickness to get close to Wade before blasting him with a left hook to knock him out. In his fifth professional fight, Garcia fought Guadalupe Díaz, on April 19, 2008, at the
Thomas & Mack Center The Thomas & Mack Center is a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. It is home of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team of the Mountain West Conference. History The facility first ...
in Las Vegas. He hurt Díaz early in the fight with a barrage of punches. The referee was forced to stop the fight after Díaz was on wobbly legs. His next fight took place on May 3, 2008, at the Home Depot Center in
Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...
against Julio Gamboa. Garcia was in command of the fight, using his fast hands and good power to win by unanimous decision. On the undercard of the Bernard HopkinsKelly Pavlik fight for the world
middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...
championship at
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in
Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
, Garcia stopped Dean Nash by technical knockout after three knockdowns in the third round. He survived a tough fight with Ashley Theophane in February 2010, coming away with a split-decision victory. Garcia knocked out faded contender Mike Arnaoutis in four rounds later in the year. In his next contest held in April 2011, he defeated former lightweight titlist Nate Campbell. On August 15, 2011, Garcia won the vacant NABO Jr. welterweight belt in Los Angeles fighting on the HBO PPV undercard of Hopkins vs. Dawson II, on a split decision over former champion
Kendall Holt Kendall Holt (born June 14, 1981) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013, and held the WBO junior welterweight title from 2008 to 2009. Early life Holt had a very tough upbringing in his native Paterson, New Je ...
.


Garcia vs. Morales I

It was announced that Garcia would get his first world title opportunity, challenging Mexican legend and ''Ring'' Top 10 light welterweight,
Érik Morales Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world championships in four weight classes, ranging from super bantam ...
(52-7, 36 KOs) for the WBC super lightweight championship in another chapter of the infamous "Puerto Rico vs. Mexico" boxing rivalry. The fight took place on March 24, 2012, at the
Reliant Arena The NRG Arena (formerly the Astroarena and Reliant Arena), is a sports center in NRG Park, in Houston, Texas, USA. Building format The main partition on the first floor is the "Arena Proper", a 24,000 gross square foot arena that seats up to 8, ...
in
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. The fight was originally scheduled to take place on January 28, but was postponed because Morales had emergency gallbladder surgery. Morales came in two pounds over the contracted limit and was subsequently stripped by the WBC of his title. Thus, the title was only at stake for Garcia. Morales was fined $50,000 ($25,000 per pound) which was given to Garcia. Morales earned a $1 million purse, while Garcia was due to make $175,000. This increased to $225,000 following the fines levied against Morales. 5,590 was announced as the attendance for the night. Garcia began the fight slowly, which Morales used to his advantage and injured his nose. As the fight progressed, Garcia gained control, scoring a knockdown in the eleventh round before receiving a unanimous decision in his favor. The scores granted by the judges were 118–111, 117–110 and 116–112 in favour of Garcia. CompuBox statistics showed Garcia landing 238 of 779 punches (31%), and Morales landing 164 of 547 shots (30%).


Garcia vs. Khan

On 23 May 2012, ESPN announced that Garcia would next fight against the British boxer Amir Khan for the WBA (Super) title. At the pre-fight press conference on 4 June, Khan and Garcia's fathers got into a heated exchange resulting in both fighters promising to knock the other out on 14 July. At the time the fight was announced, WBC were unsure whether to sanction the fight, as Garcia had a mandatory defence due against Ajose Olusegun. The fight was scheduled to take place on 14 July 2012, in Las Vegas. The fight was a title unification bout, as Garcia's WBC title and Khan's WBA (Super) title were both on the line. Khan entered the fight as a heavy favorite, with betting odds at 1–7 in his favor. Khan seemed the faster of the two early, but Garcia pretty quickly found a way to catch many of Khan's punches and was clearly finding the range with his own. Khan won the first two rounds and could have been on his way to winning the third, but with twenty-nine seconds left in the round Garcia countered a Khan combination with a left hook that caught Khan on the neck and dropped him to the canvas. Khan rose to his feet quickly but had been hurt by the punch, and referee
Kenny Bayless Kenny Bayless (born May 4, 1950) is an American retired referee (boxing), boxing referee from Nevada. He is best known for having refereed many of the sport's most well-known fights. Bayless's catchphrase, when giving his instructions to the fig ...
took an extra few seconds after administering the standing eight count to make sure that Khan could continue. Garcia resumed his attack and nearly finished off Khan, who was saved when the bell rang to end the round. Eight seconds into the fourth Khan, now on unsteady legs, could not withstand a barrage of punches from Garcia, who was now taking control of the fight. Garcia kept pounding away at Khan, who lost his balance and touched the canvas with his gloves, thus forcing Bayless to administer another standing eight count as a fighter is considered down once any body part of his other than his feet touch the ring after a punch. Khan tried to rally and stay in the fight, but with forty-eight seconds left in the fourth round Garcia knocked him down for a third time. This time, Khan got up quickly, appeared to have recovered from the barrage and told Bayless he was okay to continue. Bayless, after considering Khan's position, decided that the champion had taken enough punishment and stopped the fight, awarding a technical knockout victory. After the fight, Khan said, "It wasn't my night. I was coming in with my hands down and Danny took advantage of that. He countered very well against me." According to CompuBox stats, Khan landed 92 of 206 punches thrown (45%), with 46 jabs and 46 power shots landed. Garcia landed 65 of his 216 thrown (30%), 60 of which were power shots. Khan earned $950,000, while Garcia had a $520,000 purse. Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the fight generated a total gate of $426,152 from 3,147 tickets sold. The fight averaged 1.3 million viewers on
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.


Garcia vs. Morales II

On August 23, 2012, Garcia agreed to fight ''Ring'' top 10 light welterweight,
Érik Morales Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world championships in four weight classes, ranging from super bantam ...
(52-8, 36 KOs) in a rematch. The fight was scheduled to take place on October 20, in Brooklyn. On October 19, it was revealed that Morales had tested positive for banned substance clenbuterol. This was part of a random drug test from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. It was said that the card would still take place. Garcia decided to go ahead with the fight, where he would see a career-high $1 million purse. In front of 11,112 at the newly opened
Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...
, Garcia retained his WBC, WBA (Super) & The Ring title's by knocking out Morales with a thunderous left hook in the fourth round. Garcia landed only 57 of 220 punches thrown (26%), but it was clear he was looking for an early win. After the fight, Garcia said, "I showed him too much respect in the first fight. You see the first fight, I thought this fight would be more of a war. I never duck anybody. I fought Khan and no one gave me a chance. Keep lining them up and I'll knock them down."


Garcia vs. Judah

On November 6, Golden Boy Promotions announced a deal had been reached for Garcia to defend his world titles against former two-weight champion
Zab Judah Zabdiel Judah (born October 27, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2019. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed championship at welterweight in 2005, and the ...
(42-7, 29 KOs), which the Barclays Center being the front runners to host the event on January 19, 2013. The fight took place on Showtime. On December 1, the official press conference got heated up between Judah and Angel Garcia, after Angel began insulted Judah over his previous losses and performances. Judah eventually stood up and shouted, "I have a lot of respect for his father but I won't be disrespected." On January 29, it was reported that Garcia had suffered a rib injury, pushing the fight back to take place on April 27 instead. Judah was aiming to become the first ever four-time light welterweight world champion. In front of an announced crowd of 13,048, Garcia defeated Judah by unanimous decision (115-112, 114–112, 116–111). He earned $1.25 million, a career-high purse at the time, whilst Judah earned $300,000, Garcia started the fight off strong landing body shots. Garcia badly shook Judah in round 5 and it was believed the fight would come to an end in the next round. Although Garcia was unable to finish the fight in the sixth round, he landed many clean shots and dominated the round. One judge scored the round 10-8 for Garcia, although there was no official knockdowns. García eventually dropped Judah in round 8 following a straight right. After the fight, Garcia said, "Regarding the bad blood: It's gone. It's a respect. As you can see, it's a lot of bad blood. I've got cuts, he has cuts. We came here and gave the people of Brooklyn a nice show." Both fighters were cut due to accidental clash of heads in the final round. Richard Schaefer stated Garcia would likely meet the winner of the Peterson vs. Matthysse fight, which was scheduled to take place on May 18. Matthysse won the fight via knockout.


Garcia vs. Matthysse

On July 18, 2013, it was confirmed that Garcia would meet Argentine slugger Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KOs) on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez superfight September 14, 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Garcia was a 2-1 underdog going into the fight. With both fighters earning an undisclosed seven-figure purse, the fight would be one of the most expensive undercard fights in history. Garcia stood firm and fought a mature fight. Matthysse won several of the early rounds, putting heavy pressure on the champion by utilizing speed and punching power. In the middle rounds, Matthysse sustained an injury to his right eye from a Garcia flinch, to which Garcia targeted the eye throughout the remainder of the fight, subsequently taking the lead on the scorecards and closing the challengers eye. In the eleventh round Matthysse landed a punch that knocked out Garcia's mouthpiece, but Garcia turned the tables and knocked Matthysse down in the 11th round with a four-punch combination. Garcia was docked a point in the final round for low blows, but the last round was very competitive with both champion and challenger trading big shots. Garcia took the unanimous decision (115-111, 114-112 and 114–112), giving Matthysse his first decisive loss. This fight also clarified that Garcia's chin is capable of taking big shots, as it was widely touted before the fight that Garcia would not be able to absorb the huge punching power that Matthysse is famous for. With the victory, Garcia won the vacant ''Lineal'' light welterweight title. For defeating Judah and Matthysse, Garcia was named 2013 Boxer of the Year by Stiff Jab.


Garcia vs. Herrera

An official press conference took place in February 2014 to announce Garcia's next title defence, against veteran boxer Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7 KOs). The fight was to be aired on Showtime and was the first fight for Garcia in his parents homeland of
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
. The fight took place at Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez in Bayamón. Garcia retained his titles in a disputed majority decision win over Herrera. The official scorecards read (114-114, 116–112, 116–112). Showtime commentators Al Bernstein, Paulie Malignaggi, and Steve Farhood scored the fight in favor of Herrera, but two judges scored it for Garcia, with one card at draw. Herrera's jab consistently scored and he was viewed by onlookers as the slightly busier fighter. After the fight, Garcia said about Herrera, "He's a crafty veteran. I know every time I step in the ring every contender I fight wants what I got. So they gonna train their heart out and give everything they got, so I expected that. He's a good fighter and it was a good challenge. I had to make adjustment and I'm a true champion." CompuBox Stats showed that Garcia landed on 204 of 675 punches thrown (30%), while Herrera landed 221 of his 695 punches (32%). Herrera believed he won the fight. After four rounds, it was announced the scorecards were 40–36, 39-37 and 38–38 in favour of Garcia. After eight rounds, two judges had Garcia ahead at 78-74 and 77–75, whilst the third judge had it 77-75 for Herrera. According to Bobby Hunter, known for collecting scorecards, 70% of the media scored the fight in favour of Herrera.


Garcia vs. Salka

On June 24, 2014, it was announced that García would fight lightweight contender Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) at the Barclays Center on August 9 on a Showtime triple-header, which would also included Lamont Peterson vs. Edgar "El Chamaco" Santana. The plan was for Garcia vs. Peterson, if both fighters were able to win their respected fights. Garcia was criticized for choosing to fight Salka, as many believed it was mis-match. At the time, Salka was not ranked at light welterweight. The card also received negative press. ESPN's Teddy Atlas slammed the sanctioning bodies. The bout, which was originally announced as a 12-round fight, was dropped to a 10 rounder and included a catchweight of 142 pounds. No world titles were sanctioned for the fight. WBC president explained, as it was a voluntary and Salka was not ranked, they would not sanction the fight, however if Garcia was to lose, the title would be declared vacant. The fight proved to be a mis-match after Garcia brutally knocked out Salka in round 2 with a left hook, ending the fight. Garcia said in relation to taking fight, “Fans last forever; boxing is a short-term career. I got to do what’s best for my life and my career. You can be 70-years-old and a fan. I can only box for another 10 years. I got to do what’s best for me.”


Garcia vs. Peterson

On January 14, 2015,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
announced a partnership with Premier Boxing Champions to air premium fights on network television. It was announced that Garcia and Lamont Peterson would fight April 11, 2015 on NBC primetime. The fight was at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The highly anticipated bout between Garcia and Peterson took place at a 143-pound catch weight and was a non-title bout. Both fighters had something to prove as Garcia was coming off an extremely tough fight with Mauricio Herrera and Peterson was still reeling from a knockout loss to Lucas Matthysse in 2013. In the early rounds Peterson was very defensive and attempted to frustrate Garcia with his awkward style. Garcia was the busier fighter the first four or five rounds throwing and landing more punches although having trouble landing clean punches on Peterson. Both boxers took turns setting the pace, Garcia landing combinations and heavily to the body, Peterson jabbing and landing clean single power punches. Peterson's size and athleticism allowed him to stay in the fight even in the face of waves of serious Garcia body blows. Peterson looked strong going into rounds 10, 11, 12, but gave away round ten completely. Garcia maintained a steady attack in the last three rounds of the fight while Peterson began coming forward and throwing everything he had (possibly suspecting he was trailing). Despite a very strong showing by Peterson, Garcia was awarded a majority decision by scores of 114-114, 115–113, 115–113. For the fight, Garcia earned $1.5 million compared to Peterson, who earned a $1.2 million purse. CompuBox stats showed that both fighters stayed busy, with Garcia landing 173 of 589 punches (29%), with Peterson more accurate, landing 170 of his 494 thrown (34%).


Welterweight


Garcia vs. Malignaggi

On June 4, 2015, it was announced that Garcia would make his welterweight debut against 34 year old former world champion Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) at
Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...
,
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in a Premier Boxing Champions fight shown on
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on August 1. Before a crowd of 7,237, García won the fight with a ninth-round technical knockout at 2:22 of the round. Garcia pushed the pace early, walking through Malignaggi's jab and firing to the head and body with both hands, particularly the right. Malignaggi was cut above his right eye by the third round and had a large welt beneath the right eye in the sixth, having been bludgeoned by several huge shots from García. Malignaggi was still taking a beating at the 2:22 mark of the ninth, when referee Arthur Mercante Jr. wrapped him in his arms to signal the end, beating Malignaggi's corner, which was about to throw in the towel. For the fight, Garcia's purse was $1.25 million compared to Malignaggi's $550,000. At the time of stoppage, the three judges' scorecards read 79–73, 79-73 and 78–74 in favour of Garcia. Following the fight, Malignaggi reflected on whether or not he would continue to fight after the defeat.


Garcia vs. Guerrero

On November 24, 2015, it was announced that Garcia would be facing Robert Guerrero on January 23, 2016, at
Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...
in Los Angeles in a PBC fight broadcast on
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which was the first ever major PBC event to be broadcast on the network. Garcia won by unanimous decision 116-112 scored by all judges becoming the new WBC welterweight champion. The attendance was announced 12,052 at the Staples Center. Garcia celebrated in the ring after the fight with his daughter Philly and praised Guerrero, "I'm excited. Guerrero is tough. No one has ever stopped him. He came to fight. He was in shape. I'm taking nothing away from him." Garcia earned a base purse of $1.5 million, $300,000 more than Guerrero.


Garcia vs. Vargas

After holding out for a possible super fight with
Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...
, Garcia announced his next fight would be against Colombian fringe contender Samuel Vargas (25-2-1, 13 KOs) at the Liacouras Center in Temple University's in Philadelphia on November 12. It was said that the fight would be a non-title, 10 round fight and would pave the way for a unification fight with
Keith Thurman Keith Fitzgerald Thurman (born November 23, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified welterweight world champion, having held the World Boxing Association, WBA title from 2016 to 2019 (promoted to WBA (Super), Super champio ...
in 2017. This was the first time Garcia fought in his hometown of Philadelphia since 2010. After dropping Vargas in round 2, the fight became one sided. Garcia eventually forced the referee to stop the fight in round 7 following a barrage of punches which pinned Vargas against the ropes. Thurman was on commentator duty for the fight and entered the ring after the fight was over to engage a staredown and exchange of words with Garcia.


Garcia vs. Thurman

On October 25, Showtime announced several fights to take place towards the end of 2016 and early 2017. One of them was the much anticipated welterweight unification fight between Garcia and fellow undefeated welterweight champion
Keith Thurman Keith Fitzgerald Thurman (born November 23, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified welterweight world champion, having held the World Boxing Association, WBA title from 2016 to 2019 (promoted to WBA (Super), Super champio ...
(27-0, 22 KOs), who holds the WBA title. Garcia defeated journeyman Samuel Vargas in a tune-up fight on November 12, which officially set up the fight for March 4, 2017 at the Barclays Center in New York City. Thurman chose not to have any tune-up and would fight Garcia after a long 9 month rest. At a press conference on January 18, 2017, the fight was officially announced and it was said that it would be shown live on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. The conference got extremely heated, leading to Angel Garcia standing up and shouting racial slurs towards Thurman. Garcia lost the fight on a split decision with the scorecards 116–112, 113-115 & 115–113 in favor of Thurman, making Thurman the unified welterweight world champion. Thurman started off as the aggressor hitting and moving back to avoid García's counter hooks. This was the case for the majority of the fight. Garcia began coming forward through the middle rounds and push Thurman on the back foot. Thurman backed off the championship rounds believing he had a comfortable enough lead to win the fight. MC
Jimmy Lennon Jr. James Frederick "Jimmy" Lennon Jr. (born August 5, 1958) is an American boxing ring announcer who was employed primarily by Showtime (TV network), Showtime and Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports as ring announcer for their ''Showtime Champion ...
gave Garcia false hope that he had won the fight when he announced WBA before WBC, making Garcia believe he had won. Garcia spoke in the post fight interview believing he had a good case of winning the fight, "I thought I won, and I was pushing the fight, but it is what it is. He was trying to counter. I had to wait to find my spots." Compubox stats showed Thurman landed 147 of 570 punches thrown, a percentage of 26% and Garcia landed 130 punches of his 434 thrown (30%). It was also reported that both fighters received a purse of $2 million a piece. The fight was attended by a boxing record of 16,533 at the Barclays Center. According to ''The Ring'', the fight peaked at 5.1 million viewers, which was at the last three rounds. The fight averaged 3.74 million viewers. This was the first time since 1998 that a Saturday primetime boxing telecast drew that kind of audience. The entire card drew an average 3.1 million viewers.


Garcia vs. Ríos

Due to Keith Thurman being sidelined for the remainder of 2017, on July 17 the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told
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, that he would likely order a fight between the #1 ranked Shawn Porter (27-2-1, 17 KOs) and #2 García for the Interim WBC title. He also went on to state, if Porter or Garcia declined to take part in the interim title fight, he would move on to the next highest available ranked fighter. At that time,
Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( ; ; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician, businessman, and professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He previously serv ...
was #3, Jessie Vargas was #4 and Konstantin Ponomarev was ranked #5 by the WBC. A day later, Porter added fuel to the speculation when he called out Garcia in a
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-esque promo on social media, "I just heard that the WBC will ask Showtime Shawn Porter to fight another title eliminator. And they want me to fight none other than the cherry picker himself - Danny Garcia. What I say to you Danny Garcia - let's get it on," Porter claimed the ball was now in Garcia's court. According to reports on October 3, a deal was close to being made between Garcia and former champion and WBC #15 Brandon Ríos (34-3-1, 25 KOs) to take place in December 2017. On December 15, it was reported a fight was close to being made to take place on February 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. The fight was confirmed a week later to take place at the
Mandalay Bay Events Center The Michelob Ultra Arena, formerly the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts Int ...
in
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on Showtime. The last time Garcia fought at Mandalay Bay, he knocked out Amir Khan to unify the light welterweight division in 2012. In January 2018, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman sanctioned the fight as a final eliminator for the WBC title. Sulaiman explained, "Champion Keith Thurman will return in a voluntary title defense, as he has recovered from his injury. Shawn Porter is the
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...
, and Danny Garcia will fight Brandon Ríos in a final elimination bout for the second mandatory due to the inactivity of Thurman." Garcia boxed expertly in jabbing and countering Ríos on the move. The fight came to an end in round 9 with a 1-punch knockout in front of 6,240 fans in attendance. Ríos beat the 10 count, however referee Kenny Baylis stopped the fight. Garcia set Ríos up with a perfect right hand counter that knocked him down on his back. Ríos landed some good shots in the 6th round, but was mostly being hit clean. At the time of stoppage, Garcia was ahead by the scores 78–74, 79-73 and 79–73. After the fight, Shawn Porter jumped into the ring and tried calling out Garcia. Showtime interviewer Jim Gray did not like this as he believed Garcia deserved his moment and told Porter and his team to exit the ring. For the fight, Garcia made $1.25 million and Ríos had a $500,000 purse. According to CompuBox, Garcia landed 188 of 614 punches thrown (31%) and Ríos landed 109 of his 605 (18%). According to Nielsen Media Research, the fight averaged 516,000 viewers and peaked at 558,000 viewers on Showtime.


Garcia vs. Porter

On April 24, Thurman vacated his WBC title, forcing the organisation to mandate Porter vs. Garcia for the vacant title. On May 9, the WBC ordered purse bids to take place on May 25 if no agreement had been made, although the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed talks were going well and a deal could be finalized before the bids. On the morning of May 25, Tom Brown informed the WBC a deal was in place for the bout to take place, thus the purse bids were cancelled. Brown stated the fight would take place at the
Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...
in either August or September 2018. On July 24, the long-awaited announcement was finally made confirming the bout to take place at the Barclays Center on September 8, 2018. Before a crowd of 13,058 in attendance, Porter became a two-time world champion after defeating Garcia via unanimous decision. The official scores were 116–112, 115–113, 115–113 in Porter's favour. Porter started off slowly in the first four rounds but then came on in the second half and took over, dominating the remainder of the bout. Both boxers boxed in the first quarter of the fight. Porter had little success in doing this. He then made adjustments and began fighting more on the inside and connecting with body shots. One of Porter's main attributes was the way he doubled his jab. It appeared Garcia slowed down in the second half of the fight. This was likely due to the body attack from Porter. Garcia believed he won the fight, but did not complain about the result. IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. entered the ring during Porter's post-fight interview with Porter stating a fight between the pair would be the 'easiest to make' in boxing. CompuBox stats showed that Porter landed 180 of 742 punches thrown (24%) and Garcia landed with 168 of his 472 thrown (36%). For the fight, Porter earned $1 million and Garcia made $1.2 million. The fight averaged 619,000 viewers and peaked at 690,000 viewers.


Garcia vs. Granados

On November 13, 2018, PBC, along with their new partnership with FOX announced the 2019 first half schedule. It was announced that Garcia would return to the ring in April 2019 against Adrián Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC). Granados had previously called out Garcia, before his loss to Porter. The fight was set to take place on April 20. On November 27, it was reported that Top Rank had offered García a guaranteed $3m purse to challenge WBO champion
Terence Crawford Terence Allan Crawford (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from lightweight to light middleweight, including the undisputed cha ...
on March 23, 2019, on ESPN PPV, which included an upside of the pay-per-view revenue. The offer was made to Garcia's father Angel from Top Rank's Todd duBoef and Carl Moretti. According to Moretti, Angel stated he would discuss the deal with Danny but then never got back to them. At the time Moretti said they offered the deal, there was a chance the Garcia Granados fight was already agreed upon. Garcia stopped Granados in the seventh round, after dropping him to the canvas several times during their bout.


Middleweight


Garcia vs. Lara

Garcia challenged
Erislandy Lara Erislandy Lara Santoya (born 11 April 1983) is a Cuban-American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title since 2023 ( Regular version from ...
for his WBA middleweight title at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on September 14, 2024. Garcia lost via TKO after the ninth round had completed, when his corner stopped the contest.


Honors and awards

Garcia was named the 2013 Philadelphia Pro Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.


Professional boxing record


Titles in boxing


Major world titles

* WBA (Super) light welterweight champion (140 lbs) * WBC light welterweight champion (140 lbs) * WBC welterweight champion (147 lbs)


''The Ring'' magazine titles

* ''The Ring'' light welterweight champion (140 lbs)


Interim/Silver world titles

* WBC Silver
welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
champion (147 lbs) * WBC Youth interim welterweight champion (147 lbs)


Regional/International titles

* WBC Youth Inter-Continental
light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...
champion (140 lbs) *
WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...
Inter-Continental light welterweight champion (140 lbs)


Honorary titles

* WBC Emeritus Champion


See also

* List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions


References


External links

*
Danny García profile
at '' Premier Boxing Champions'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Danny 1988 births Boxers from Philadelphia Living people Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent American male boxers Puerto Rican male boxers World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Council champions The Ring (magazine) champions World light-welterweight boxing champions World welterweight boxing champions Lightweight boxers People with polydactyly