Danny Garcia: I did enough to beat Thurman

By Boxing News - 03/05/2017 - Comments

Image: Danny Garcia: I did enough to beat Thurman

By Dan Ambrose: Danny Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) is not happy about losing his WBC welterweight title to WBA champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Thurman won a 12 round split decision in a fight televised by Showtime Championship Boxing on CBS. Garcia was the one putting the pressure on Thurman during the last 4 rounds.

However, Thurman was doing the attacking in the first 8 rounds. He was the one coming forward looking to initiate the action. Garcia, 28, did a great job of rallying in the last quarter of the fight to make the scores closer. The judges scored it 116-112, 115-113 for Thurman, and 115-113 for Garcia. I scored the fight for Thurman by 8 rounds to 4.

I thought Thurman did a good job with his single power shots he was landing the entire night. Even in the last 4 rounds, Thurman was frequently landing the better job due to his speed advantage, and his courage. Thurman was willing to take chances. Garcia looked reluctant to let his hands go for fear of being countered.

“It was a good fight. I thought I did enough to win,” said Garcia via Fight News.” I picked it up in the last four rounds and thought I won the fight. But I take my losses like I take my wins, like a true champion. All I can do is come back stronger.”

Thurman hurt Garcia with his big punches in round 1. Garcia was getting worked over in a major way by Thurman in the 5 rounds of the fight. You can argue that Thurman won the first 5 rounds before Garcia won his first round in the 6th. With the bad start that Garcia had, he had no chance of winning. He fought slowly, looked afraid, and was getting picked apart by Thurman. Standing stationary certainly didn’t help Garcia’s chances of winning the fight. He wasn’t willing to take the fight to Thurman the way he needed to.

Garcia hadn’t learned from watching Thurman’s previous fights that you do not stand and let him use his in and out style o fighting. You go after Thurman the way that Shawn Porter did. That’s why someone like Errol Spence Jr. would likely have the best chance of beating Thurman in the welterweight division, because he’s a pressure fighter with huge power. He’s unafraid to initiate action, and he’s probably the best body puncher in the division. Spence might be the kryptonite to expose Thurman. Garcia was the opposite of Spence. He was stationary, passive, and timid last night, and that’s why he lost the fight to Thurman.

With Thurman now as the WBA/WBC champion, Garcia will need to look in another direction if he wants to win a world title. Thurman has Garcia’s number. I don’t think anything would change if they face each other again. If Garcia starts earlier with his offense, Thurman will just use movement to avoid his shots, and end up out-boxing him like he did last night. Garcia did not win that fight last night. He’s kidding himself if he thinks that he won.

“How do you win a championship running? Right now, I’m disgusted with boxing. I want Danny to retire right now,” said Garcia’s father/trainer Angel Garcia.