Danny Garcia claims he was 50% for Errol Spence fight

By Boxing News - 07/21/2022 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Danny Garcia says he’s 85% improved since his one-sided loss to IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr in 2020. According to Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs), he was functioning at 50% capacity due to him being mentally & physically worn down.

Garcia’s choice to make excuses for his loss to Spence isn’t flying with boxing fans, who see it as another example of a fighter unwilling to admit that the better man beat him.

Danny looked outmanned by Spence from the jump, taking shots from the Texas native, who was returning from a horrible car crash in October 2019.

This wasn’t the sharp version of Spence that we saw dismantle Yordenis Ugas recently and wear out Shawn Porter.

Spence looked like he was the one that was performing at 50% of his potential, not Danny, who looked like the same flat-footed fighter that had lost to Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman and Shawn Porter.

The former two-division world champion Garcia, 34, is fighting at the end of the month against Jose Benavidez Jr (27-1-1, 18 KOs) in a 12-round bout on Showtime on July 30th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

“I feel great mentally & physically, I feel great,” said Danny Garcia to Fight Hub TV. I’m 85% better, but 100% better overall. I was 50% then,” said Danny ‘Swift’ when asked about his improvement since his loss to Errol Spence Jr in 2020.

What a shame that Danny can’t just admit that he was over his head against Errol and that he was lucky that he was coming back from a long layoff after his car crash in Dallas.

Garcia, by the way, says he wants to run it back against Spence. The chances of that happening in this lifetime are slim & none.

For Danny to get a rematch with Spence, he would need to pick up a belt at 154 or, at the minimum, beat the highly ranked contenders Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora, Israil Madrimov, or Tim Tszyu. This writer wouldn’t like the 34-year-old Danny Garcia’s chances of beating any of those guys.

“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for him, and for me, it’s do-or-die,” said Danny about his July 30th fight against Jose Benavidez Jr. “So, the stakes are high for both of us.

“Yeah, because I got to win,” Garcia said about there being pressure on him. “He’s [Erislandy Lara] is going to fight me regardless. All I got to do is win. Besides Canelo, I’d be the biggest name he fought.

“You got to give your head a rest. Remember, in boxing; you get hit. No matter how good of defense you got, you’re still going to get hit. You still have to spar hundreds of rounds,” said Garcia about his long break from fighting.

“You still have to come here with the same energy every day and push yourself, even when you don’t feel like doing it.  So you do that for 25 years, and you’re going to have a breaking point. You got to listen to your body, and that’s the most important thing to listen to your body.

“Even before [the Spence fight], I was feeling tired. I don’t have to fight,” said Danny Garcia when told that he’s made ‘generational’ money during his 15-year professional career. “You sit back like, ‘I ain’t got to fight. Why am I going to get hit for?’ For a couple of million, when I already got that in the bank.

“Sometimes, you got to weigh your options of risk vs. reward. But I feel good, other than that. I miss boxing; I love it. It’s just what I do. It isn’t about the money. Sometimes, I knock people out and forget to get my money,” said Danny Garcia.

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