Danny Garcia vs. Jose Benavidez Jr. on July 30th in Brooklyn, NY

By Tim Compton - 06/01/2022 - Comments

Former two-division world champion Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia will be moving up to 154 to make his debut in that weight class against Jose Benavidez Jr. on July 30th in the main event on Showtime at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Jose Benavidez Jr. (27-1-1, 18 KOs) the older brother of former WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez.

Unfortunately, Jose hasn’t shown the same ability as David Benavidez, and he’s hurt his career by only fighting once in the last four years since losing to Terence Crawford by a 12th-round knockout in October 2018.

In the 30-year-old Benavidez’s last fight, he was held to a controversial 10-round draw against unheralded Argentinian fighter Francisco Emanuel Torres (17-3-1, 5 KOs) last November in Phoenix, Arizona.

Many boxing fans felt that Torres deserved the win over Benavidez in that fight.

It’s not surprising that Benavidez looked poor in that fight, as he was coming off a nearly four-year layoff since his loss to Crawford. It’s almost impossible to look good when you fight as seldom as that.

Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) has been inactive since his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Errol Spence Jr. He will be coming off a 19-month layoff when he steps foot inside the ring against Benavidez.

It’s good that Danny is finally getting back in action, but it’s too bad he’s chosen to throw away a year and a half of his career sitting on the sidelines.

Garcia had been fighting at 147 since 2014, but he was never as effective in that weight class as at 140.

Although Garcia did capture the WBC welterweight title by edging Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision in January 2016, he quickly lost the belt in 2017 to Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.

In 2018, Danny was roughed up and beaten by Shawn Porter by a 12-round unanimous decision. Garcia took a couple of easy tune-ups, beating Adrian Granados & Ivan Redkach before fighting Spence in 2020, losing to him in a one-sided contest.

The defeat by Garcia against Spence showed that there was no place for him at 147 other than as an opponent. Moving up to 154 might work for Garcia as long as Jermell Charlo moves up to 160.

However, Spence and Terence Crawford are planning to move up to 154 in 2023, so Danny’s options for winning a world title are slim. On the positive side, Garcia can make good money in a rematch with Spence or a fight against Crawford, even if his chances of winning are low.

“Danny Garcia and Jose Benavidez Jr. have agreed to a deal for a July 30 fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, sources tell ESPN. The PBC on Showtime main event is Garcia’s 154-pound debut after DSG captured titles at 140 and 147. His first fight since December 2020 loss to Spence,” said Mike Coppinger on Twitter.

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