By Allan Fox: Danny Garcia is gearing up to capture his fourth world title in his career when he faces Shawn ‘Showtime’ Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) next week on September 8 when the two of them meet up to fight for the vacant World Boxing Council welterweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME)
Garcia, 30, believes that he has the power to knockout Porter, who has never been stopped before during his 10-year pro career. Garcia says that people are surprised at his power and talent when they get inside the ring with him. Garcia (34-1, 20 KO) shocked Brandon Rios recently in stopping the normally strong-chinned fighter in the 9th round earlier this year on February 17. Before that fight, Rios had never been knocked out from a head shot during his career. Rios’ only stoppage loss came from a body shot against Tim Bradley in 2017, and that was when he was bloated and out of shape at 170 pounds after he rehydrated for their welterweight clash.
“I’ve knocked out a lot of fighters for the first time, so it won’t be surprising to me if I knock Shawn Porter out for the first time,” Garcia said.
Porter is going to be harder to knockout then the slow as molasses Rios, who looked sluggish and slow last February in his loss to Garcia. Porter, 31, isn’t slow, and he’s not over-the-hill like Rios. Porter is fighting at a high level, and he arguably did a better job in losing to Keith Thurman than Garcia did last year. They both came up short against Thurman in losing 12 round decisions, but Porter seemed to do a better job. He wasn’t dominated in an embarrassing way in the first six rounds the way Garcia was. It wasn’t until Thurman’s injured elbow started to give him problem that he eased off and allowed Garcia to have his moments in the fight. Just in looking at how both fighters did against Thurman, you’d have to give Porter the edge in beating Garcia.
“Once you’re in there with me, it’s not the same as anyone else. It’s not the same as what you expect it to be. You’re in for a rude awakening,” Garcia said.
Danny Garcia needs to look a lot better against Porter than he did in his fights against Rios, Keith Thurman, Samuel Vargas, Robert Guerrero and Lamont Peterson. Garcia isn’t going to beat Porter with the way he looked in those fights.
Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn wants to sign Garcia to his stable to have him fight on his DAZN platform in the U.S. Garcia’s trainer/father Angel Garcia says that it’s going to cost Hearn between $6 million to $8 million for him to fight for him. ”I want $6-9 million for Danny Garcia to go with Eddie Hearn,” Angel Garcia said to AN Boxing News. Hearn is pretty desperate to sign an elite fighter, but for Garcia to get that kind of money, he’s going to need to beat Porter and look good in doing so.