By Jeff Aranow: WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) will beat WBA champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) this Saturday night says IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. He’s picking Garcia, 28, to win the fight by a 12 round decision. Easter does think Garcia has power, but he sees the fight going the full distance.
Easter Jr. said this to Barbarshop Conversations about his prediction for the Garcia vs. Thurman fight on Saturday:
“Garcia,” said Easter Jr. in predicting who wins the Garcia-Thurman fight. “Garcia definitely has the power, but I see it going the distance.”
Thurman has a lot of power and hand speed going for him. He’s coming into the Garcia fight having beaten Shawn Porter, Luis Collazo and Robert Guerrero in his last three fights. Thurman looked vulnerable in each one of those fights. He didn’t dominate fully. Thurman got off to a shaky start in those matches, and he was lucky to beat Porter.
If Garcia can land one of his massive left hooks to the head of Thurman or land a big body shot, we could see a knockout. Garcia is by far the biggest puncher that Thurman will have faced during his career. If there’s any weakness in Thurman’s game, it’s with his ability to take shots. He gets hurt to the head and body. With Thurman constantly retreating after he throws a punch, he’s hard to hit. Thurman’s defensive skills while in the pocket aren’t very good. He doesn’t have reflexes like Floyd Mayweather Jr. that enables him to avoid punches. Thurman’s defense is his legs and his offense more or less. If Garcia can time Thurman when he comes forward, he might be able to stop him with a big shot.
Garcia and Thurman will be fighting this Saturday on March 4th on Showtime Championship Boxing on CBS presented by Premier Boxing Champions at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The winner of the Garcia-Thurman fight will be viewed by many fans to be the No.1 welterweight in the division today. The winner will still need to prove themselves against the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence fight, which will be taking place on May 20. Manny Pacquiao is also someone that they might need to fight if he doesn’t retire and if his promoter Bob Arum lets him take the fight.
In the co-feature fight on Saturday, junior middleweight contender Erickson Lubin faces Jorge Cota in a 12 round fight.
The Garcia-Thurman card has a start time of 9pm ET, 6pm PT.
Amir Khan thinks Thurman needs to be really careful and focused against Danny Garcia, because he could wind up losing like he did in 2012. Garcia knocked Khan out in 4 rounds.
“I think deep down he knows the fight against me was a fight that made Danny Garcia,” said Khan to Fighthype.com. “That’s what made Danny Garcia. I was on the top of the 140.”
Thurman is obviously going to be careful on Saturday night, but with Garcia, it only takes one punch. If he hurts Thurman like he did Khan, then he could take him out.