By Mark Uliano: After Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia’s (24-0, 15 KO) 4th Round TKO of Amir Khan this past Saturday on HBO, boxing fans and analysts on various media and social outlets have been wondering who the newly crowned Ring champion, WBA and WBC champion will be facing next.

Being a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, I’m sure Richard Schaefer will be putting him in with an opponent that will give the crowd their money’s worth. With a fan friendly come forward power punching style, there are multiple names in the 140 pound weight class that could possibly be fight of the year candidates for the young Philadelphia fighter.

A fight with the Brooklyn based Zab Judah (42-7, 29KO) seems to be a topic of interest in recent days with Judah recently calling out the new champion on Twitter and other boxing sites. Judah, coming off 9th round TKO over Vernon Paris on March 24th at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, NY would be an interesting fight for Garcia. A name for many years in the junior welterweight and welterweight division, Zab has been in the ring with the who’s who of current top boxers. With many of his big name fights ending in a loss, a fight with Garcia could be Zab’s last chance to grab a title in a somewhat busy division. With his technical boxing skill and blazing hand speed, Zab could be trouble for the younger Garcia. Although in his later years, Zab can still bang with the best of them, as was evident in the Paris fight. Being promoted by Kathy Duva’s Main Events also helps since there seems to be no promotional problems between the two fighters companies. A great candidate to open Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center or an Atlantic City battle between New York and Pennsylvania, the fans would be in for a treat if these two met in the ring.

A long shot in my eyes to land the fight is Top Rank fighter Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO). Coming off a controversial split decision victory over Richard Abril on April 14th of this year, Rios has struggled to make lightweight for the past three fights and has said that he will be moving up in weight to junior welterweight. The timing would be right for these two fighters since the both last fight recently. An October date would give plenty of time for both fighters to have successful training camps. A Rios-Garcia fight would be a toe-to-toe battle in the middle of the ring with both fighters landing heavy shots for as long as the fight would go on. A definite fight of the year candidate, I would guarantee this fight wouldn’t make it to the judge’s scorecards. The only problem between these two fighting is the Top Rank-Golden Boy feud that seems to have been heating up recently. A great fight on paper, unfortunately that’s probably all it will ever be unless these two promotional factions can make amends.

On the other side of the table is Cuban fighter Richard Abril (17-3-1, 8KO). Abril, shockingly on the wrong side of the split decision loss against Brandon Rios, is a good technical boxer with a great defense. He would have to fight exactly the way he did when he fought Rios in order to pull out the victory against the aggressive power punching Garcia. A toss up in my eyes, I could see this fight as a great HBO or Showtime co-feature with a guy like James Kirkland. With Angel Garcia and Richard Abril’s trash talking capabilities, this fight could promote itself. With many of the top junior welterweights already signed to fights in the coming months, Golden Boy has a great option in the newly popular Abril, albeit a risky one.

There are many other roads Golden Boy can take with the young Garcia. There’s been talks out of Erik Morales camp of a possible rematch due to the clause in their fight contract, but at this point a fight with ‘El Terrible’ seems like a step back for Garcia in my opinion. A title-unification with Juan Manuel Marquez would be an interesting match, but the Top Rank-Golden Boy issue comes into play once again. Bouts with fellow Golden Boy fighters Lucas Matthysse or Josesito Lopez are possibilities, but with both fighters already being inked to future fight contracts they would most likely have to wait for next year to be set up. Garcia can take a stay busy fight till bigger ones appear, but I’m sure Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer will want to put him back in the ring as soon as possible.