Angel Garcia prefers Khan for Danny Garcia over Matthysse

By Boxing News - 02/12/2018 - Comments

Image: Angel Garcia prefers Khan for Danny Garcia over Matthysse

By Dan Ambrose: If the option is available in the near future, Angel Garcia says he prefers Amir Khan over WBA World welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse for Danny Garcia to fight due to him being a bigger name. Angel says Khan is the bigger name than Matthysse.

Danny says he doesn’t recognize Matthysse as the real WBA 147 champion. Danny says Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is the real WBA champion. Thurman holds the WBA ‘Super World’ welterweight title. He also recently beat Garcia 11 months ago on March 4 in his last fight.

Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) fights Brandon Rios (34-3-1, 25 KOs) this Saturday night on February 17 on Showtime at the Mandalay Bay Resort Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“That’s not a real world title to me,” Danny Garcia said to Fighthub about Matthysse’s WBA World welterweight title. “I’m not trying to bring him down. I hate to say it but Keith Thurman is the real WBA champion. They’re trying to take money out of my purse,” Garcia said.

Garcia beat Matthysse by a close 12 round unanimous decision 5 years ago on September 14, 2013. The judges scored the fight 114-112, 115-111 and 114-112. The fight might have been a different story if the referee had taken more points away from Garcia for his frequent low blows in the fight. Garcia was hitting Matthysse with low blows all night long and getting away with it in front of referee Tony Weeks, who was taking a relaxed approach to officiating the fight. Garcia is cool to the idea of fighting Matthysse now, but if he gets beaten by Brandon Rios on Saturday night or if he loses to Thurman in a rematch, you can bet he’ll change his mind about not wanting to fight him.

“Matthysse-Khan? Khan, of course,” Angel Garcia said to Fighthub when asked which fighter he would prefer to match Danny Garcia against between Matthysse and Khan. “Khan’s a bigger name. Golden Boy is not trying to pay. Golden Boy [the promoters for Matthysse] pay, but they don’t pay the crazy money. We’re looking for crazy money,” Angel said.

Khan, 31, is fighting Phil Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs) in a comeback fight on April 21 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. England. Khan isn’t going to likely take a fight against Danny Garcia in 2018, because he’s being built back up by his now promoter Eddie Hearn. Khan has been inactive for the last 2 years since losing to Saul Canelo Alvarez in May 2016 by a 6th round knockout. Khan will be fighting Kell Brook this year. If Khan beats Brook, then a rematch Garcia, 29, will potentially be a fight that he considers. Khan would be better off fighting Garcia than he would WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman or IBF belt holder Errol Spence Jr. Those are tough fights for Khan. So is Shawn Porter. Garcia is an easier option for Khan to get a payday and possibly avenge his 4th round knockout loss to from 2013.

“He’s a good opponent,” Angel Garcia said abut Brandon Rios. “If you look at his resume and see his record. He ain’t got a lot of losses. He’s got like 3 losses. For his record, he’s like 34-3. That’s a good record. How many guys make it that far? You’ve got guys 5-0 and lose. You’ve got to give the man credit. The man is coming to fight. That’s a good fight for Danny, because people see that Danny is still at the top. We need guys like that. He ain’t sweet. He’s going to try and come that night,” Angel said of Rios.

Angel can keep saying that Rios is a good fight for Danny until he’s blue in the face, but the boxing public knows what’s going on. This is a record-padding fight for a beaten and an inactive fighter coming off a loss in Danny Garcia. He needs a win right now badly, and Rios gives him his best shot at doing that and impressing some of the casual boxing fans that have heard of Rios. The hardcore fans know that Rios is a fighter from the past, whose career has been done for the last 5 years. It’s been 7 years since Rios was a world champion. He was involved in a couple of exciting fights against Mike Alvarado when the two were both with Top Rank at the same time, but Rios didn’t beat any of the good welterweights like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Rios lost to Pacquiao and Tim Bradley. Both of those defeats were horribly one-sided affairs from start to finish.

Angel Garcia is hoping the World Boxing Council will strip Thurman of his WBC welterweight title due to him not having defended the belt for the past 11 months since winning the strap last March against Garcia. Thurman says he’s not going to fight until May 19th, and he calls this year his “get back year.” Thurman says he’s going to be fighting fringe contenders for the entire year. Angel is counting on the WBC stepping in to strip Thurman because of him not fighting for 12 months. So far, the WBC hasn’t said anything about whether they’ll strip Thurman and give him a WBC emeritus champion in recess label.

“I’m hoping the WBC listens to me and strips Thurman of his title,” Angel said. “He’s going a year without fighting. So, I’m hoping they strip him and give up back out title. Canelo ain’t real big. Canelo is like a big bone guy. He’s small, but like an MMA fighter,” Angel said.

That would look bad if the WBC stripped Thurman and gave the title back to Danny Garcia. I could understand the WBC stripping Thurman and then telling Garcia he had to fight Shawn Porter for the vacant title, but that’s not what Angel wants. He’s hoping the WBC strips Thurman of his title and gives the belt to Danny without him even fighting. That’s weak. I don’t think the WBC will strip Thurman of his title, because he’s a popular guy. I’ve never seen the WBC strip a popular champion of his title. I don’t think they’re going to take Thurman’s title away from him even if he chooses not to fight for the entire year. I don’t see the WBC making the move to take Thurman’s title from him, even though they would be helping themselves if they did. The WBC has their reasons for keeping an inactive champion like Thurman, 28, as their WBC 147 lb. champion. If the injuries for Thurman continue to pile up year after year, you can imagine the WBC will strip him and give him the Emeritus tag as the WBC 147 lb. champion in recess. Thurman has been injured in the last 2 years in 2016 and 2017.