Garcia-Salka

(Photos Courtesy of Showtime/Amanda Kwok) By Jim Dower: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) will be back in the ring this Saturday night in what he hopes will be a better fight for him than in his last one against Mauricio Herrera last March.

Garcia says he didn’t prepare for the Herrera fight the way that he should have, and that’s why he had so many problems with him. On Saturday, Garcia will be fighting Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) in a catch-weight fight at 142lbs at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Salka, 28, isn’t journeyman level fighter, but he could very well be on his way to that status if he gets beaten badly by Garcia.

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(Photos Courtesy of Showtime/Amanda Kwok) By Allan Fox: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) will taking the first step this Saturday night towards what could be an eventual big money bout against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr by taking on lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) at a catch-weight of 142 pounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Garcia wants to get his feet wet to find out what he’s got in store for him when he moves up to 147 to face the top guys. That’s why he asked for the fight with Salka to take place at welterweight instead of 140. Garcia wants to find out what it’s like to be hit by a welterweight, and he will in theory be getting hit by a guy that is likely over 140 on Saturday.

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By Dan Ambrose: Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) says that WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) in a situation this Saturday night where he’s going to take heat from fans no matter what he does in their fight on Showtime at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

With Salka being a lightweight, and a non-top 15 ranked one at that, Garcia can get nothing from this fight for beating Salka as far as credit from the knowledgeable boxing fans.

The casual fans who have no clue who Salka or Garcia is, will be impressed with Garcia if he beats Salka in a convincing manner, but the fans who follow that sport won’t give him full credit because he’s matched against a smaller, less talented, a non-ranked fighter that he’s pulled up to the welterweight division to fight in a 10-round, non-title fight.

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By Allan Fox: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) will be in the ring this Saturday night against lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) in a 142 pound catch-weight fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The fight was originally slated to have Garcia’s two titles on the line for an optional title defense. It appears that Garcia’s adviser Al Haymon made a miscalculation when he selected Salka for Rios to defend his titles against, because the backlash that it created led to the WBA and WBC deciding not to sanction the fight as a title defense.

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By Dan Ambrose: Speaking in the third person at times, WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) talked today in a media call about his upcoming non-title 142 pound catch-weight match-up with unranked lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) on August 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Sounding a bit like he has a chip on his shoulder for some reason, Garcia talked about how he doesn’t care about what the media are saying about him, because his fans love him. The media have been on Garcia’s case ever since he won a controversial decision over Mauricio Herrera last March and refused to give him a rematch to clear the controversy.

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By Dan Ambrose: Unranked lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) says he plans on roughing up WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) and taking the fight to him next month in their fight at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Salka, 5’7”, sees vulnerability in Garcia when he watches his previous fights, especially his recent fight against Mauricio Herrera. Salka wasn’t impressed with what he saw from Garcia in that fight and he feels that he’s someone that he can pull an upset against him.

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By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) won’t have to worry about making weight for his fight against little known lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KO’s) because their August 9th fight will now have a catch-weight 142 pound catch-weight for this Showtime televised fight.

Garcia’s management decided on picking out the non-top 15 ranked Salka for Garcia to defend his titles against instead of a top tier contender for some reason. But due to the huge firestorm of criticism that came from that, the WBA and WBC chose to make this a non-title fight.

The word is that with the titles not being on the line, Garcia opted to make the fight at 142 instead of at the normal weight of 140 for the division. That makes things even tougher for Salka, who was found in the lightweight division for Garcia to fight instead of at 140. It’s not a problem for Salka to move up in weight, but given that he’s a lightweight with a small frame, he’s probably not going to do well at all in this fight, especially if Garcia rehydrates into the 150-160 region.

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(Picture credit: Hogan Photos) By Dan Ambrose: ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas went into a long and angry rant last Wednesday night about the August 9th Golden Boy Promotions fight between WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KO’s) and unranked lightweight Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KO’s) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Like a lot of boxing fans, Atlas isn’t happy about the match-up, because the two-title holder Garcia isn’t fighting a top 15 contender. He’s not even fighting a light welterweight in this case, as Salka is a light hitting lightweight who is moving up in weight for this fight but without a top 15 ranking. Atlas thinks that one of the sanctioning bodies, either the WBA or WBC, will soon have Salka ranked in the top 15 at 140 shortly before the fight takes place in order to give the fight some legitimacy.

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