Danny Garcia wants Keith Thurman rematch if he beats Barrios on Saturday

By Boxing News - 01/31/2022 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Danny Garcia says he wants a rematch with Keith ‘One Time’ later this year if he wins his comeback fight this Saturday night against Mario Barrios.

The former two-division world champion Danny ‘Swift’ (36-3, 21 KOs) wants to get a tune-up in first in the first half of 2022 and then face former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) after that.

Danny’s chances of getting a fight against Thurman will come down to whether he wins his battle against Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) and if he gets a title shot in the summer against WBO 147-lb champion Terence Crawford.

If Thurman loses to Barrios or can’t get the clash with Crawford, he’ll likely agree to the rematch with the 33-year-old Danny if that’s the best money fight out there for him.

Thurman seems to be focused on money for his comeback, so he’ll take whatever the best fight he can to bring in the dough.

If Thurman has plans to fight Danny Garcia, he needs to do it soon because the interest in that fight will deteriorate if it already hasn’t.

Five years ago, Thurman beat Danny by a 12 round split decision on March 4th, 2017, and a lot of boxing fans have forgotten about that fight.

The younger fans never got a chance to see the Thurman vs. Garcia fight five years ago, so they’ll be less eager to pay $75 to watch the two aging welterweights on pay-per-view.

Danny Garcia calls out Thurman

Listen, we got a rivalry. Garcia vs. Thurman II, that’s something that fans want to see,” said Danny Garcia to Premier Boxing Champions. “I’d like to get back in the ring at the top of this year. We’re in talks right now.

“Thurman gets his win, and Danny gets his win, let’s do it again,” Garcia continued. “That’s one of the biggest fights that can be made in boxing this year,” said Danny Swift.

It was a mistake for Thurman not to have taken advantage of the tremendous amount of interest fans had in the Danny Garcia fight by his failure to rematch him in 2018 or 2019.

Yeah, we know Thurman was injured, but he clearly could have come back and fought Danny in 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021.

There was a lack of motivation on Thurman’s part to get back on the grindstone to face Danny or other top fighters in the sport. Was that laziness on Thurman’s part? It’s hard not to see it that way.

If Thurman’s bank account had a zero reading, would we have seen him fighting Danny in a rematch in 2018? I’d say that’s a big YES.

“Keith Thurman does bring out the best in his opponents. The quick ‘why’ to that is because he is who he is,” said Shawn Porter to PBC Countdown: Thurman vs. Barrios.

Image: Danny Garcia wants Keith Thurman rematch if he beats Barrios on Saturday

“If your defense is any less than perfect and your offense is any less than perfect, Keith Thurman is the kind of fighter that can capitalize on those moments. He just happens to find those moments.

“If that happens one time, that’s where he gets his name from. When you beat Shawn Porter and then beat another undefeated fighter in Danny Garcia, who is known for knocking out guys, although Danny hadn’t been at 147 for too long, for Keith to take on two heavy hitters and beat both of us, that’s how you start to leave your mark.

Porter impressed with Barrios

Former WBA light welterweight champion Barrios has a real chance of beating the ring-rusty Thurman on Saturday night, mainly if he fights hard in the second half of the fight.

What we saw from Thurman in his last three fights is that he’s essentially a six-round fighter who lacks the gas tank needed for him to fight for a complete 12 rounds.

“To see Keith handle Danny Garcia, it surprised people with the way he was able to first take Danny’s power but then elude a lot of the power shots that Danny throws,” Porter said about the Thurman that beat Danny Garcia in 2017.
“At the end of the fight, not a scratch on him. I think that’s where he solidified himself as a true champion.

“A lot of fighters, you don’t know about us until we hit the big stage. With Mario Barrios, even though he wasn’t on the biggest stage, he was still on network television.

“The first time I got to see him, it was like, ‘Okay, we got a kid here. Literally a kid.’ He was young, and he had a lot of skills, and you could see some power. You could tell that trouble was lurking. The best impression that he could make.

“You’re a young fighter, who doesn’t have a name for the casual boxing fan, and you go into the ring on those nights and doing your job is willing but doing your job the way it needs to be done. A body shot knockout like that; I can’t argue with that.

“I think Mario Barrios was facing a lot of pressure when you haven’t had too many moments, and then the first big title fight and on a pay-per-view night. It was a lot,” said Porter.

“In some ways, he showed that he’s not quite ready, but then in the most important facts that matter in boxing, he showed that he has all those: heart, power, and that will.

“That’s what got him his victory,” said Porter about Barrios’ close 12 round unanimous decision win over Akhmedov in 2019.

Barrios has an excellent chance of winning this fight and wrecking Thurman’s dreams of a world title fight against Crawford or the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Yordenis Ugas winner.

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