By Jeff Aranow: WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) and WBC champ Danny “Swift” Garcia (27-0, 22 KOs) today for their kickoff press conference for their March 4 unification fight on Showtime Championship Boxing on CBS at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia’s father Angel Garcia took command of the press conference Wednesday in attempting to shout down Thurman when he was at the podium trying to speak. It got to the point where Angel got up and tried to get at Thurman. Angel had to be held back from getting at Thurman. It was pretty one-sided.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME)
Thurman was calm, and didn’t look agitated, but Angel looked like he was ready for a straight-jacket. He swearing and talking to the point where he started to lose his voice.
Danny Garcia let his father do most of the talking. The main thing Danny did was stand across from Thurman during the stare down during the face off. That’s about the most that Danny did today. He was real low key. If not for the faceoff, I don’t think the boxing fans would have known Garcia was even there. He was letting his dad Angel do all the talking.
“I am the champ, and I always will be. Danny Garcia is a fighter who I have asked for and who I have respect for,” said Thurman. “But he’s going to learn, just as my past opponents have, that my power and speed will rise above any swiftness he has. I am the true welterweight champion. I will unify the titles and show him what ‘One Time’ feels like. I look forward to this fight and the fans should too; be there on March 4.”
Thurman is seen as the better fighter of the two by a lot of the boxing fans. He should win the fight unless Garcia catches him with something big. Garcia has only fought a couple of good opponents during his career in Amir Khan and Lucas Matthysse. He beat him both, but neither of them was on the same level as Thurman.
If Garcia is going to beat Thurman, then he’ll need to raise his game to another level. Garcia always finds a way to win. He might run out of luck this time unless he can catch him with one of his big left hooks.