(Photo Credit: Amanda Kwok / SHOWTIME) By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) rebounded tonight from his gift decision over Mauricio Herrera in his last fight by stopping little known lightweight Rod Salka (19-4, 3 KOs) in a 2nd round TKO tonight.
Garcia was like a standup comic after the fight when being interviewed by Jim Gray. Garcia wasn’t trying to be funny but he was nonetheless when he said “I’m all about fighting the best fighters. I leave that up to Al Haymon, but if (Lamont Peterson) wants it he can get it too.”
That was funny. How Garcia could make that statement after beating up on a guy that didn’t belong in the same ring with him tonight is anyone’s guess. The WBA and WBC were wise to the Garcia-Salka fight being a mismatch, which is why they refused to sanction the fight for a title defense of their straps.
That’s why Garcia chose to have the fight take place at a catch-weight of 142 pounds rather than the normal 140 pound weight for the division. With nothing holding Garcia’s weight in check, he rehydrated up to what appeared to be close to 160 tonight against a fighter that was so much smaller than him in Salka.
As for the fight, such as it was, Garcia knocked Salka down several times in the 3rd round before the referee stopped the fight at 2:31. Salka looked badly hurt after tasting the canvas on the 3rd knockdown from a left hook.
Enough with the bad news. The good news is we might see Garcia fight IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson next, although Garcia refused to commit to the fight. Like always, he said that his adviser Al Haymon will pick out who he fights next. Garcia is going to passively go along with whatever Haymon finds for him.
Hopefully that’s a fight against Peterson because I’m not too sure if Showtime will televise Garcia’s fights indefinitely if he’s going to be matched up against soft opposition every time out. Tonight’s fight was the type of bout where Garcia should be able to come back quickly and fight within a couple of months because he wasn’t hardly even hit. It was all one-sided action from start to finish.
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