Thurman doubts Danny Garcia will succeed against real welterweights

By Boxing News - 05/31/2016 - Comments

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Eric Baldwin: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman has doubts whether WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) will be able to hang with the big boys at welterweight now that he’s moved up all the way to the division and is no longer fighting at catch-weights.

Thurman takes issue with Garcia seeing himself as the No.1 fighter at 147 now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have both retired from the sport. Thurman notes that Garcia has had two fights since he moved up to the full weight for the welterweight division, and those fights were against Paulie Malignaggi and Robert Guerrero.

Thurman says those guys aren’t real welterweights, as they started their careers below 147. Garcia beat Guerrero last January by a 12 round decision, but it was a fairly close fight. It was closer than the 116-112 x 3 scores that the judges handed down.

Garcia is interested in facing former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto next. Thurman questions whether Garcia will be able to handle Berto’s hand speed and power in that fight.

“Is he a cash cow? Yeah, he is. He’s got a beautiful record. He’s got a beautiful resume, and he’s a world champion,” said Thurman about Danny Garcia to Fighthype. “But look at who he’s trying to fight all of a sudden. He’s trying to fight my boy, Berto, who has the ability to put hands on him because Danny Garcia gets hit by fast fighters. He holds his own, he finds a way to win, but he’s there to be hit,” said Thurman.

Garcia has been pretty careful thus far since he moved up to welterweight, but then again, Thurman hasn’t fought anyone yet either. He just finished beating Luis Collazo last year in July. Thurman is just now facing his toughest opponent in Shawn Porter on June 25. It seems that many fighters in the welterweight division aren’t taking huge risks with their careers. Amir Khan did recently in moving up to middleweight to fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but that was a fight that gave Khan a huge payday, so it was a risk well worth it.

“Berto, with his speed and power, he might be able to surprise Danny if that’s a fight that is going to go down,” said Thurman. Obviously, he didn’t beat Robert Guerrero and grab the mic and say ‘I’m ready for Keith One Time Thurman. “Team Garcia is smart, they pick and choose their fights. They’re trying to make the most money. He would like to be the number one welterweight, but I highly doubt he’s going to be able to go toe-to-toe with some of the real welterweights in the division; whether that be me, Shawn Porter, or Kell Brook. I see him having a hard time with real welterweights like my boy, Andre Berto, a real welterweight. I look forward to seeing what Danny does at 147, but I don’t think he’s going to have the same performances that he did when he was at 140, and at a catch-weight before he moved up to our weight class. The first two fighters he wanted to fight at welterweight was Paulie Malignaggi and Roberto Guerrero, which are obviously not welterweights to begin with. Danny Garcia is not a true welterweight and I want to see which welterweights he can defend himself against. I think he’s going to have his hands full with my boy Andre Berto,” said Thurman.