By Dan Ambrose: There is less than two weeks to go before the January 23rd fight between former WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) and former two division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox Sports from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Guerrero, 32, surprised a lot of people recently with his comments about him believing in his mind that Mexicans are better at the sport than Puerto Ricans. The comments have put a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Guerrero, whose career looks to be sinking fast with him having lost 2 out of his last 4 fights.
Guerrero appeared to lose his last bout against Aaron Martinez, but was given a controversial 10 round split decision. I think Guerrero lost that fight, which shows you how dire his situation is as he goes into the January 23rd fight against Garcia. A loss to Garcia would put Guerrero with 3 defeats in his last 5 fights, and it’s hard to believe that he’ll be able to come back from that.
“Mexicans want to be better than Puerto Ricans in the game, and you know what? In my honest opinion, Mexicans are better in the game,” Guerrero said. “I’m going to come out and show the world what I’ve got left and what I can do.
Garcia, 27, has taken the high road by choosing not to get into the Mexico vs. Puerto Rico talk. He feels that he’s a Latino and he doesn’t see it as an ‘us against them’ type of situation in his fight with Guerrero.
“I represent all Latinos, a lot of Latin Americans and things like that, a lot of Mexican Americans, a lot of American Puerto Ricans, I feel that if you’re born in America and you’re Latino, I think it’s all the same,” Garcia said.
Guerrero and Garcia don’t appear to speak Spanish that well, so it’s hard to understand the whole Mexico vs. Puerto Rico thing. They were both born in the United States, and that makes the whole rivalry thing irrelevant because they were not born in Mexico and Puerto. It’s a whole different story for both of them, as they’re Americans, so the rivalry thing rings hallow.
Not surprisingly, Garcia is the favorite to win this fight. However, Garcia does not appear to be as good as the other top welterweights in the division, and he likely won’t do well when he eventually does face someone of quality instead old lions like Guerrero and little Paulie Malingaggi. Two out of the last three fights Garcia has had have been against weaker opponents in Rod Salka and Malignaggi.
Garcia was given controversial victories over Lamont Peterson in 2015 and Mauricio Herrera. Those fights showed that Garcia is not as good as some boxing fans had originally thought he was. I think Garcia will do well as long as his adviser Al Haymon carefully matches him against weaker, flawed opponents.
Once Haymon takes the training wheels off of Garcia and throws him out there in against tough opponents like Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, I see Garcia losing. Never the less, it’s quite possible that Haymon will never put Garcia in against those fighters. I wouldn’t be surprised if Garcia’s entire career is managed like a perfectly coordinated play with him facing only guys that he can definitely beat without a doubt, and never put in with dangerous opponents like the above mentioned fighters.
Less than two weeks out. Gonna close out this camp strong. #TeamDSG #PBConFOX #Jan23 pic.twitter.com/1KiUzv7Y7F
— Danny 'Swift' Garcia (@DannySwift) January 11, 2016
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