By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (27-0, 16 KO’s) will be making his next title defense against #11 IBF Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7 KO’s) on March 15th at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, Bayamon, Puerto Rico. This fight card would have been better off taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The undercard will have unbeaten heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30 KO’s) facing former contender Malik Scott (36-1-1, 13 KO’s) in a 10 round bout. There’s also former two division world champion Juan Manuel Lopez (33-3, 30 KO’s) facing 33-year-old former two division world champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-5, 35 KO’s) in a rematch scheduled for 10 rounds.
Danny Garcia’s parents come from Puerto Rico, and he’s got a lot of fans over there that will be interested in seeing this fight with Herrera. I just wish that Garcia has fought someone a little better than this, because Herrera has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, and that’s not the type of record you’d like to see from an opponent being given a title shot.
If that’s the qualifications to get a title shot then it’s pretty statement about boxing. Showtime will be televising the card, so it’s on them for blessing this fight for their network. It’s too bad they didn’t put their foot down and tell Golden Boy Promotions that they’re not interested in putting a mismatch like this on their network.
Herrera was beaten by Mike Alvarado and Karim Mayfield in 2012. He’s won his last two fights against Ji-Hoon Kim and Miguel Angel Huerta.
Danny Garcia beat Lucas Matthysse by a 12 round unanimous decision in his last fight last September in Las Vegas, Nevada. That was the fight where Garcia spent much of the fight hitting Matthysse below the belt and holding him for 12 rounds.
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The Deontay Wilder vs. Malik Scott heavyweight fight is supposed to be a step up bout for the 28-year-old Deontay. It’s really not much of a step up from the guys that he’s been facing. Golden Boy Promotions should be looking to match Deontay against guys like Bryant Jennings and Mike Perez. The fact that Golden Boy isn’t forcing Deontay to fight better opposition makes you wonder if they’re hiding something with him. If they’re not going to put Deontay in at least one solid test before he fights for a world title in 2014 or 2015 then they’re not doing him and the boxing public any favors. Deontay probably won’t be ready to fight for a world title if he’s going to be matched against guys like Scott before fighting for a title. The chances are high that Deontay will be knocked out when he finally is put in with a quality heavyweight like Bermane Stiverne or Chris Arreola.
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Juan Manuel Lopez’s career has gone downhill in the last three years. He’s been beaten twice by Orlando Salido by stoppage losses, and he’s coming off of a 4th round TKO loss to Mikey Garcia last year in June. Lopez already stopped Daniel Ponce De Leon in the 1st round 6 years ago in 2008. But a lot of things have changed since then, as Lopez is not the same fighter he was back then. De Leon is still fighting at a high level, and he should be able to win this fight as long as he can handle Lopez’s power early on in the fight. De Leon was stopped by Abner Mares in the 9th round last year in May. De Leon has since beaten Joksan Hernandez by a 10 round unanimous decision in November of last year.
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