By Danny Esch: On Saturday March 4th of 2017 there will be an epic battle between two Champions in a unification bout to get one step closer to claiming the top spot at welterweight with Danny Garcia facing Keith Thurman. On both sides, you have two young and determined American Champions both from the east coast but from two different areas on the map of the USA.
The WBC Champion Danny “SWIFT” Garcia fights out of Philadelphia Pennsylvania at a more northern point on the map and then you have the second Champion the WBA Champion hard-hitting Keith “ONE TIME” Thurman who resides more south in Clear Water/St Petersburg Florida.
These two fighters are not only champions in their division of welterweight but they are also both “undefeated” fighters in their careers so bragging rights, titles, and undefeated records are all on the line for both young fighters on March 4th. I hope this match lives up to the hype and we get to witness something historic.
The fans of both fighters along with the fans of the sport have leaned both ways on who they think will come out to be victorious. The champion Danny Garcia so far has a stellar career with his most notable wins over Erik Morales, Amir Khan and Lucas Matthysse along with other “named” fighters that have all been defeated at the hands of Danny “SWIFT” Garcia. Although Danny Garcia has an unblemished record only time will tell if he can handle the likes of his rival champion Keith “One Time” Thurman.
Keith Thurman also has a stellar career which most of us already know of but what we all have failed to mention (me included) is the fact that Keith Thurman’s body attack. I already know the story and the countless arguments about that devastating body shot that(“defeated) foe Luis Collazo landed on Keith Thurman but what many of us fail to note is the fact that Keith Thurman never fell or even dropped to one knee after that perfectly vicious body shot. As of late watching tape of Keith Thurman I noticed two things, number one Keith Thurman possess an unnoticed and under rated body shot and second Danny Garcia has never really been tested to the body.
So far in Thurman’s career he has made three fighters quit, now understand these are professional fighters that have multiple fights under their belts and Thurman made them quit fighting after all the months of training up to the fight they all threw in the towel and said enough is enough with this guy I can’t take it any longer. The fighters that gave up and quit against Thurman are Orlando Lara, Luis Collazo (body shot guy), and Julio Diaz and out of those three opponents Julio Diaz quit after a bruised rib from a body shot that landed by Thurman.
At this point I’m sure you’re probably saying “Yeah but that’s just one guy” and I will say to you “Nope there’s more”. Along with Julio Diaz suffering a perfect body shot that ended the fight we also have former champion Carlos Quintana and at the time the hard-hitting “Undefeated” champion of Argentina Diego Chaves who was said to hit harder than Lucas Matthysse also from Argentina, all suffered a vicious body shot from the hands of Keith “One Time” Thurman and yes, they all went down and touched the mat one way or another.
My question now is can Danny Garcia with stand the body attack and body shots of Keith Thurman? Will Danny be able to last 12 rounds after receiving blow after blow to his body? I predict Thurman will either knock Garcia out with a body shot or at the very least drop Garcia down to a knee with a vicious body blow. Keith has already been tested to the body with Collazo and even Shawn Porter who constantly pressured Thurman but to no avail.