By Dan Ambrose: Struggling welterweight Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia says he’s moving up to 154 to try and become a three-division world champion. Garcia ( 36-3, 21 KOs) feels that he’ll have more energy at 154 than he currently has at 147, and he wants to bring more attention to the division.
What’s interesting is Garcia didn’t call out any of the champions at 154, which makes you wonder if he’s earnest about wanting to try and win a belt.
At 154, Garcia will need to face champions Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano if he wants to win a world title in that weight class.
It won’t be easy for Garcia unless he suddenly starts showing more power and a higher work rate than what we’ve been seeing from him at 147.
Danny says he’ll take a few tune-up fights at junior middleweight to get acclimatized to the weight division and then go for a world title. He isn’t saying what he’ll do if he loses, though? Charlo holds the IBF, WBA, and WBC titles.
So the only other option besides him is WBO 154lb champion Brian Castano, who is like a bigger, stronger version of Shawn Porter. Castano likes to fight on the inside, and he would arguably be a tougher fight for Danny than Charlo.
Next week, the 14-year professional Danny will be turning 33 on March 20th, and he wants to make things happen with the time he has left in the sport.
Garcia has lost two out of his last four fights at 147 and is coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr on December 5th.
Danny was competitive against Spence but not good enough to outslug him, and he ended up losing a disappointing decision.
The belief that many people have about Garcia is that he’s not the same fighter since moving up in weight from the 140-lb division where he held the WBA and WBC titles.
“Honestly, I would like to go up to 154,” said Danny Garcia to SouthBox Radio Show. “Me and Thurman can fight at 154. My goal in boxing was to be a three-division world champion at 140, 147, and 154.
“I’ll go up to 154, and I’m still a bigger name than all the dudes at 154. I’ll get a couple of fights to break myself in, and then I’ll go for the gusto like I always do,” said Danny.
If Garcia moves up to 154, he shouldn’t waste too much time with fodder opposition after he goes up in weight.
What Danny doesn’t need is to invest a year or two facing low-level opposition and then finding out the hard way that he doesn’t have the size or the power to compete in the division.
These would be good options for Danny to get acclimatized to the 154-lb division:
- Jack Culcay
- Tim Tszyu
- Charles Conwell
- Julian Williams
- Jeison Rosario
- Bakhram Murtazaliev
- Jarrett Hurd
If Danny Garcia can’t beat those types of fighters at 154, there’s no point in him challenging Charlo or Castano for their titles because he won’t win.
“I’ll be more active at that weight; I’ll be strong and throw more punches. I’ll be a lot sharper and stronger,” said Garcia.