(Photo Credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Allan Fox: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) is going to be getting a decent payday for his non-title fight against lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia will be getting $700,000 for the fight, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Salka, a fighter that few fans are familiar with, is getting $125,000.
Garcia could likely make a lot more money if he were to face Lucas Matthysse in a rematch. That’s a fight that would draw a lot of interest in big ratings on Showtime, even though Garcia did beat Matthysse past September. Garcia vs. Viktor Postol would also have been a better fight.
In the co-feature, IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson will be getting a respectable payday of $400,000. His opponent Edgar Santa is getting $75,000.
It was widely assumed that Garcia and Peterson were being given a free pass to face lesser opposition for this fight card in order to help market a unification fight between them later this year, but Garcia says he doesn’t see any point in fighting Peterson. He notes that Peterson lost to Matthysse last year.
Garcia feels that’s one of the reasons why a fight between him and Peterson doesn’t make sense. The other reason is obvious; Garcia plans on moving up in weight to campaign as a welterweight. He’s already talking about him being able to match-up against the likes of Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, two fighters that Garcia will be expected to fight sooner or later if he moves up.
Rafael said on his twitter “Purses for Sat’s GB/Showtime card at Barclays Center: Garcia 700k, Salka 125k, Peterson 400k, Santana 75k, Jacobs 100k,Fletcher 75k.”
If Garcia keeps winning, he’s going to likely wind up as an opponent for WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015. Garcia needs to look good on Saturday against Salka, and that might get him the Mayweather fight in May of 2015.
Ideally, Garcia should fight one high quality welterweight like Devon Alexander after he officially moves up in weight so that he has a high quality win under his belt to help make it easier for Mayweather to market a fight between him and Garcia.
Comments are closed.