Angel Garcia proudly holds up a poster promoting his son’s 147-pound title unification bout with Keith Thurman, and points to Thurman being on the left side of the poster, as favorite, or the so-called “A-side” fighter in the match-up.
It’s not viewed as a slight within the Garcia camp. The underdog role – the “B-side” – is one that Danny Garcia has come to embrace on the path to multiple world titles and a 33-0 professional record. It’s tough to be a B-side when you’ve put together the résumé that Danny Garcia has in 10 years as a professional. But this fight provided the opportunity, and Angel Garcia insists that he wanted it that way.
That type of hardcore seasoning is what the younger Garcia believes gives him an edge on Thurman heading into their meeting next Saturday night – the headliner of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS, presented by Premier Boxing Champions. Broadcast coverage begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
“My honest assessment is he’s a built-up champion,” Danny Garcia said. “I came up the hard way. I’ve had to take the title off of the champion (at 140 pounds), everything against me. From the gloves, to the size of the ring to the promotion, everything was against me. He’s never had that before.”
Garcia won a vacant 147-pound belt – previously held by Floyd Mayweather Jr. – in January 2016 by edging Robert Guerrero in a gritty, 12-round war. He was out of the ring for 10 months before tuning up for the Thurman bout against Samuel Vargas in November.
While he hasn’t been through waves of adversity in the ring in his brief time at 147 pounds, few can question his accomplishments at 140, where he cleaned out an entire division and was a unified champion in an impressive run of 2-plus years.
Garcia didn’t have many soft touches on the way up to the top at 140 pounds, including the two most significant wins of his career – unification championship bouts with Lucas Matthysse and Amir Khan.
He was an underdog in both and won both in convincing fashion.
“I’m pretty seasoned for my age,” he said. “I feel like I was made for this big stage. That’s what separates me from a lot of these other fighters. A lot of other fighters get to that big stage and they freeze up. Me, you know what I do. I come and deliver.”
Garcia fought five times at 140 pounds as either a unified champion or to unify belts. He’ll now do so for the first time at 147 pounds against Thurman in a bout that has been hyped since moments after his one-sided victory over Vargas last November.
Thurman was ringside that night, working as an analyst on the Spike broadcast. As Garcia’s hand was raised after the fight, Thurman had already been brought into the ring to formally announce their upcoming bout. Garcia knew what to do from there.
“The whole time I was training for that fight, I was training for this fight, so I just had to get over that one fight, and I knew he was going to be there. So I had to let the people know,” he said. “It’s kind of like wrestling. I really meant (what I said), but sometimes you also have to give the fans what they want, and that’s entertainment.”
Garcia lit the flames in just that manner, grabbing the microphone and stoking his hometown crowd in Philadelphia into a blaze with one line: “If y’all wanna see me whip this guy’s ass, make some noise!”
From there, it was a blur of red-faced screaming between the two sides.
“I was ready to fight right there,” Garcia said. “I would have fought him right there if they put the gloves on.”
Those theatrics play into what has also made Garcia so successful in big-time title fights – the mental edge he builds up, no matter the opponent. This fight is no different. He gives a ready assessment of what he’s up against Saturday night in comparison to past challenges.
“He’s probably like fourth or fifth,” Garcia said, ranking Thurman against former opponents. “You’re talking about Amir Khan, Olympic silver medalist, two-division champion. Lamont Peterson. Those guys have skills. I’m just fighting someone with a lot of momentum who thinks he can knock everyone out, that’s it. Once I break his momentum, then what?”
Should he follow through, it would lead some to believe that Garcia’s long list of detractors would automatically shrink.
One of boxing’s more polarizing stars, he has his theories on why so many love to hate him. Without that legion of naysayers lingering, though, it would be hard to continue billing himself as an underdog – his favorite role of them all.
“I beat their favorite fighters and they’re still mad about it,” Garcia said. “I came up the hard way. They don’t understand why I’m still here. They don’t. I earned my way by beating people. I wasn’t sitting next to anyone on a jet promoting me. I created my brand. I created Danny Garcia off the strength of me beating good fighters and nothing else.”
Leonard works Garcia vs. Thurman fight on Saturday
Boxing Hall of Famer and former undisputed welterweight world champion Sugar Ray Leonard will join the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS broadcast team on Saturday, March 4 for GARCIA vs. THURMAN. The event will be headlined by the welterweight world championship unification bout between undefeated champions Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman. GARCIA vs. THURMAN is presented by Premier Boxing Champions and will take place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, home of BROOKLYN BOXING.
The live broadcast will be produced by SHOWTIME Sports® for the CBS Television Network and will air live on CBS from 9-11 p.m. ET / 6-8 p.m. PT. Garcia vs. Thurman will be the first world title unification bout in any weight division on live network television in over two decades and just the second primetime boxing presentation on CBS in nearly 40 years. The first was headlined by a thrilling welterweight world championship fight between Thurman and Shawn Porter, a 2016 Fight of the Year candidate and one of the most watched boxing events of the year.
With SHOWTIME boxing analyst and active prizefighter Paul Malignaggi scheduled to fight in London that evening, the broadcast seat opened up for Leonard. He will join SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING host Brian Custer, play-by-play voice Mauro Ranallo, International Boxing Hall of Fame analyst Al Bernstein and Sports Emmy® Award-winning reporter Jim Gray on Saturday.
Leonard made his professional boxing debut on CBS in 1977, less than one year after he won gold at the ‘76 Olympics in Montreal as part of what is considered the greatest American boxing team in Olympic history. He served as a boxing analyst for the network in the early 1980s during a temporary retirement, calling fights alongside CBS boxing announcer Tim Ryan and Hall of Fame trainer and analyst Gil Clancy, before eventually resuming his professional boxing career. The March 4 event will reunite Leonard with former CBS producer and current SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING Executive Producer David Dinkins Jr., and director Bob Dunphy, the son of legendary boxing broadcaster Don Dunphy.
A five-division titlist and one of the most decorated boxers of all-time, Leonard brings unique perspective to the broadcast booth having been in a similar situation to Thurman and Garcia more than 35 years ago. Garcia, the WBC 147-pound titleholder, and Thurman, his WBA counterpart, will unify the exact same titles that Leonard (WBC) and fellow Hall of Famer Thomas Hearns (WBA) unified in their classic 1981 Fight of the Year.
Heading into the March 4 unification, Garcia and Thurman own similar records to those of Leonard and Hearns prior to their ‘81 showdown. Thurman is 27-0 and Garcia is 33-0, while Leonard was 30-1 and Hearns was 32-0. And like Leonard and Hearns, Thurman and Garcia are in their 20’s and their respective primes as they approach the career-defining fight.
“I’m thrilled to be working with the SHOWTIME team and to be part of the CBS broadcast of this great event,” said Leonard. “I’ve watched Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman develop as young men and mature both inside and outside of the ring. Now they are both champions facing their biggest test to determine the man to beat in the welterweight division. This fight reminds me of my incredible bout against Tommy Hearns. There’s nothing better in boxing than when champions meet to unify a division, and I truly believe this fight could go either way. I’m so excited and I can’t wait to be ringside this Saturday at Barclay’s Center.”
“When Ray and I last spoke in January, we’d reminisced briefly about our work in boxing together and we’d promised to get together soon,” said Dinkins. “Who knew it would be to work on the biggest fight scheduled for 2017? I’m thrilled that Ray is available to join our SHOWTIME broadcast team on March 4. His experience in fighting on the big stage for high-stakes will help put Garcia vs. Thurman into its proper context.
“Garcia vs. Thurman is a battle of undefeated champions,” Dinkins continued. “The winner of this fight will be the No. 1 welterweight in the world. Ray has been there. His classic battles with Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns at welterweight made him a legend. It is only fitting that he will be ringside when a new star is born.”
Leonard was down on the scorecards when he knocked out Hearns in the 14th round of the 1981 fight. It was only the second world championship unification match in welterweight history. Garcia and Thurman will face off in the 10th unification in division history, and only the third between undefeated world champions.
After the Hearns fight, Leonard made one more defense of his welterweight belts before eventually moving up to challenge Marvin Hagler at middleweight. Leonard has served as a TV personality and boxing analyst since retiring from the ring in 1997, including a stint on CBS.
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by DiBella Entertainment, start at $50 (not including applicable fees) and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online by visiting www.ticketmaster.com, www.barclayscenter.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets are also available at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group discounts are available by calling 844-BKLYN-GP.