By Jeff Aranow: WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia believes he’s one win away from taking over Floyd Mayweather’s place at the No.1 fighter in the 147lb division if he can beat WBA champion Keith Thurman in their unification fight on March 4. In Garcia’s view, the winner of his fight against Thurman will be the best fighter in the welterweight division.
I’m not sure if the other top 147lb fighters Errol Spence Jr. and Kell Brook will agree to that opinion, but some boxing fans will agree with what Garcia is saying.
(Photo Credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME)
Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) and Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) fight in a unification match on Showtime on CBS on March 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“Yeah, the winner of this fight will be the new king, me,” said Garcia to Fighthype.com. “I just got to be focused. I got to have tunnel vision. I’ve got to have that same composure in every round, and get the momentum my way. Don’t let it go, and make adjustments. I’ve got to adapt like a true champion, and figure out a way to win like always. This is a world title fight, so you’ve always got to prepare for 12 rounds. I’ll be ready for 12 rounds or less,” said Garcia.
With the way that Garcia looked against Robert Guerrero in winning the vacant WBC welterweight title last year in January 2016, he does not look like a fighter that will soon be the No.1 welterweight in the division. Even if Garcia beats Thurman, it’s still hard to crown him as the next Mayweather at 147.
Thurman has looked very vulnerable in some of his own fights. He was almost knocked down by Luis Collazo in 2015. Thurman was hurt by Diego Chaves and Jesus Soto Karass. Thurman almost lost to Shawn Porter in his last fight. That was a really close fight for Thurman last July. If Porter was a little bit bigger, he probably would have beaten Thurman without any problems.
“We’re definitely going to work the body,” said Garcia. “But we’ll work the head too, wherever we can hit him. We’re just working smart and hard in camp. Nothing is changing from past camps. We’re going to put in work.”
The idea behind working Thurman’s body is he’s vulnerable when getting hit to the midsection. If Garcia throws to the body, then he’ll need to be watching for Thurman’s left hook, because he loads up on that shot all the time. Thurman uses his boxing skills more than when he was in the amateurs, but he’s still a slugger. That’s what he does most of the time.