By Jaime Ortega: Danny Garcia finally decided to take on Keith Thurman. The WBC and WBA unification title promises to be a legacy fight between two undefeated fighters that encompass different styles of boxing. The sharp stationary shooter versus the explosive poignant boxer.
Yet despite all the hype that surrounds the March fourth match up, it won’t be as entertaining as Shawn Porter versus Thurman for a number of reasons. First: Porter was overly aggressive – Danny won’t be as aggressive. Second: Porter never gasses-out, whereas Danny has shown to gas-out in the latter rounds of a fight — especially against Lamont Peterson. Third: Thurman has shown the ability to control the pace of the fight regardless of the style –if he was able to control Shawn’s tempo – he will surely control Danny’s.
Fourth: Thurman has already defeated a similar if not more skillful opponent on Diego Chaves. Chaves is no ordinary pugilist, the man can crack and box on the inside and outside. He was ducked by IBF champion Kell Brook, and avoided by Danny Garcia’s camp for the reasons stated above. The always honest Timothy Bradley said once that, “Chaves would give anyone problems,” and he is right.
If you really want to understand how Danny would perform against Thurman; it is almost mandatory to replay Thurman versus Chaves. The fight was contested, both fighters landed heavy shots and tried to nullify each other’s power. Chaves caught Thurman more times – with cleaner shots — than Porter by the 10nd round.
Thurman decided to stretch his luck as Chaves aimed to the face and Thurman caught Chaves with a perfectly placed body shot to the liver that ended the fight. Thurman tackled and humbled an undefeated technical prospect and gave the blueprint to beat Chaves.
Chaves and Danny have similar styles. I personally don’t think Garcia would beat Chaves; in fact, I think Chaves could outbox Garcia. Also Chaves has overall better conditioning than Danny — what Robert Guerrero’s limited boxing skill failed to accomplish — Chaves would of easily outperform.
Thurman is going to knockout Danny close to the middle rounds via decapitation. Danny came from 140, and is now facing a bigger man and a natural welterweight. The odds are against the Philly-Rican, who has never scrapped with a boxer like Thurman. Danny will inevitable have to trade punches with Thurman and survive the hurricane. Danny might have a granite chin, but Thurman has enough power to knock him out via body crunch; on the other hand, Danny hasn’t knockout anyone via body shot for a long time.
Danny needs to work on his defense and head movement. Thurman moves and throws awkward punches from different directions and will adapt to Danny’s style.
The most dangerous boxers to challenge Thurman’s reign are Errol Spence Jr., Tewa Kiram and Manny Pacquiao. Kell Brook will likely stay at 154. As far as the best prospects, everyone is familiar with Spence, but few have paid attention to the Thai undefeated boxer Tewa Kiram. Who looks like a dangerous prospect and is ranked above Spence in the WBA. Kiram has the fastest jab in the welterweight division, and given that Spence has no set opponent, it will be a great matchup to pair by December/January.