By Eric Baldwin: David Benavidez thinks WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) needs to face the winner of the June 25 fight between WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) and Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) so that a number one fighter in the 147lb division can be determined from those fights.
Garcia could be facing Andre Berto soon. Benavidez sees Garcia stopping Berto with one of his big power shots. After that fight, Benavidez wants to see Garcia take on the winner of the Thurman-Porter fight.
Thurman and Porter are both very interested in facing Garcia, who some boxing fans see as the new money guy in the 147lb division now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have both retired.
If the Porter-Thurman winner beats Garcia, they still might not become the top money guy at welterweight though, because there’s more involved in being the top money guy than just being the most talented. You need charisma, personality and above all a huge fan base. Garcia has all of those things going for him. He smiles a lot and doesn’t come across as angry and bitter. Garcia is very approachable for fans, and he doesn’t heat up when asked about different fighters.
“I see Shawn Porter pressuring a lot, and I see Keith Thurman boxing a little bit more for this fight,” said Benavidez to esnewsreporting. “I see Shawn Porter getting hurt. Shawn Porter can hurt Keith Thurman, so it’s going to be a great fight. It’s going to be an epic battle. I think so [the winner of Thurman vs. Porter becomes the No.1 welterweight in the division]. I think they take the crown as the top welterweight. I think Danny Garcia needs to fight either Shawn Porter or Keith Thurman to prove himself at the top. I think they have the right to call themselves the top. I think after this fight, Danny will fight either one of them, and if he beats them, he’ll be the king of the welterweights. I think Danny Garcia knocks out [Andre] Berto. Danny Garcia has a devastating left hook, He knocks everybody out with it when he lands it clean because of the way he throws it and sets it up. Berto leaves himself too open for that too. [Garcia’s left hook is] vicious; one of the top five in my opinion,” said Benavidez. ]
Garcia would gladly take the winner of the Thurman-Porter fight, but it’s not up to him. Garcia’s manager Al Haymon and his father Angel Garcia are the ones who pick out his fights. If they don’t want Garcia to fight the winner of the Thurman vs. Porter fight, then the fight won’t get made. I believe the fight needs to marinate more because it’s still too early for Garcia to be fighting unification matches at welterweight. He just moved up in weight last August.
Garcia needs more time in grade at 147 before taking on the other champions. It wouldn’t be fair to Garcia to take the fight against the winner of the Thurman vs.Porter fight right now. Besides that, Thurman and Porter need to build up their market brand a little more by taking on the likes of Kell Brook, Tim Bradley and Errol Spence before it will be worth it for Garcia to fight them.
Garcia doesn’t need to take those fights for him to be popular because he’s already highly popular. Garcia is at the top of the money chart at 147 whether he fights those guys are not. That’s why it’s better for Garcia to spend more time getting acclimated to fighting at 147 while he waits for the Thurman-Porter winner to prove that they can beat the other top welterweights like Spence, Bradley and Brook. If they decide they don’t want to ever fight those guys, then Garcia should wait until they pick up some fans before he fights them.
Right now, Thurman and Porter don’t have enough fans for it to be worthwhile for Garcia to fight them. Why should he? It’ll make far more money later on down the line for Garcia if he waits for Thurman and/or Porter to pick up more fans.
Thurman needs to change his fighting style if he wants to gain more fans because he moves too much, and it’s not nearly as interesting to watch him fight compared to guys like Garcia, who stays in the pocket in his fights and slugs with his opponents.