How Do We View Danny Garcia?

Think it's very interesting how we rate particular fighters at times. You're only as good as your last fight I suppose and Garcia wasn't great in his. But the polarisation I have read from people is incredible, it generally reads like this:

Garcia, beat over the hill opponents in Holt to build his name, barely scraped past an old Morales that was fighting well in the wrong weight division to win his belt. Was being beaten around by Khan and simply landed a humdinger to take it from him, rematched an even older Morales that was struggling with the weight even more and beat him. Beat Judah but got hit by loads of punches late and struggled more with a seriously past it Judah than every other world class fighter that has beaten Judah has. Got lucky against Matthysse with his eye closing up or else he would have probably lost that one, robbed Herrera in his last fight and looked well short of ideas against a guy you would generally see in ESPN's Friday Night Fights.

Or, Garcia beat the general opposition to work his way against guys slightly past it but solid pros like everyone else does like Holt. Beat a Morales that had just beaten a decent fighter in Cano and came very close to beating Maidana in his last fight overcoming a fantastic veteran fighter that used every old trick in the book to try and beat him and took a great learning experience. Was being beaten by Khan but was trying to time him coming in on the exchanges and landed a left hook that changed the face of the division in emphatic style. Rematched Morales and took with him a new lease of confidence and took him out in 4 rounds with one of the KO's of the year. Knocked Judah down twice and showed adaptability in adversity when Judah came on strong towards the end. Showed poise and fantastic technique against Matthysse in which he was an underdog yet again and proved many doubters wrong and put the first genuine loss on Matthysse's record when he was beginning to look like one of the most dangerous men in Boxing and was the first to put him to the canvas. Underestimated Herrera and struggled a little with the speed of Herrera but did enough to make it close with a lot of murky rounds that could have gone either way to pick up a decision, managing to pick up a win fighting nowhere near his best as champions do.

That appears to be the general view. My view is a little more in the middle, most opinions are one way or the other, and seems to be most of the way when we assess fighters we seem to like or dislike, but my view on Garcia is he's a very good fighter with good timing, caught Khan coming in but he was seriously struggling with the speed and movement and this was highlighted again with Judah and Herrera showing that tricky movement and fast hands causes him lots of problems. Fought brilliantly against Matthysse and showed that he could follow a plan terrifically for 12 rounds and showed a tremendously good chin in taking that right hand that smashed the gumshield from his mouth in round 11. Think he did underestimate Herrera slightly but dredged out the victory, however I did think he lost that one, personally.

All in all a very good fighter, but not one that will never be a great and will be found wanting sooner or later possibly when he moves up to 147. But similar to Tim Bradley until not too long ago, he just keeps finding a way to win, and that's a hallmark of a genuine champion.

Thoughts?

Great article Alex.

I'd say I lean towards the second of the two opinions as much as I'd like not to. I was all for dismissing him, his struggle with Judah indicated he was still green, that a wily old fox would be able to out point him, as he'd also previously struggled with Morales. Thing is, he beat them both and it wasn't contentious, it was pretty clear and although not sparkling and entertaining it was efficient. He did get "lucky" with Khan to a degree, but you could see he was looking for that opening, taking hits, waiting for the opportunity and he took it. Then there was the Matthysse fight and my opinion changed. This was a wrecking ball in front of him. The champion was the underdog, and he managed to outclass him almost from start to finish, doing damage, avoiding big shots and trading and went to work well.

I don't want to think he's amazing, because he's not - but the guy has cleaned up LWW handily. Not sure he'd fare the same at WW but he's not half bad you know.

Through a telescope because he is teaming with parasites.

He had an off night, it happens. That doesn't diminish what he has already achieved he is still a top fighter, maybe he is the sort of man that performs at his best when under real threat. I am pretty sure it will be a long time till he takes anyone so lightly again, so the last fight might well turn into a massive positive for him.

I just think its a styles thing with Garcia. He's a solid all round fighter with a good fighters IQ. He's got a great chin and a decent bang. He's not exceptional at anything though, so decent boxers will always trouble him. I respect him, because he makes the best of what he has, and so far he finds a way to win (albeit fortuitously last time out). I don't see him as the kind of guy who's going to dominate his division though.

Milky hits the nail on the head.............He's a solid fighter and an overachiever and good luck to him........

Certainly put him in any top 10 list.............Khan and Matty were excellent wins...Chuck in a couple of not so good wins against Erik twice and Judah and we have a fighter that deserves respect..

He's a good boy.....But drop your Pa !!......... figuratively that is not literally..

Oh great, the "Khan was beating him senseless until the lucky punch"....

Thing is, if you watch that fight, Khan jumping in and out with pitter patter punches which didn't faze Danny in the slightest is about right. The fact he kept positioning himself right in front of Khan and sought that big left hook shows that Khan could have hit him for 11 rounds and the hail mary that Danny was looking for still could have took him out. He went in with a plan and it took him less than 9 minutes to impliment it.

Shows how bad Khan is rather than Garcia.

Don't know if I agree with that dee. I recall Garcia being pretty flustered in the corner, I don't think getting his ears boxed off was part of his plan. However, he'd had a few near misses before landing the money punch. It was no fluke.

You are a little harsh on Khan........He was winning the fight and had Garcia cut......

Garcia may have been trying to set him up.........But let's face it how many fighters have tried to set good fighters up over the years and failed miserably..

Garcia caught him with the shot and kudos but it wasn't a GIVEN!! and a couple more rounds of Khan dominance and who knows what Garcia would have looked like..

Great win for Garcia.........But let's get real.........I'm sure Garcia's tactics weren't to be outclassed before landing the leveller !!!

It was the concentration that impressed me in that fight. Obviously Garcia's team (along with everyone else) knows that Khan is a fast starter and he is one of the fastest in the sport. But everyone also knows that as rounds tick on, Khan slows down and becomes incredibly wreckless and open.

Remember against Peterson, it was also the 3rd round were Khan started to get roughed up after 2 excellent rounds.

I am convinced Garcia knew Khan would slow eventually and the shot he was looking for would come. But they probably didn't expect it to be so soon so by all means Khan could have kept up the ambush tactics for another 2/3 rounds before getting sparked. That left hook looked like it had been practiced especially for Khan and they knew he wouldn't have stood up to that.

Garcia obviously doesn't have the pace to keep up with Khan early but his equalizer was the power and Khan couldn't keep up with that.

I think people read into the fact Khan won the first 2 rounds as if its some sort of badge of honour.

Most fighters who seek counters happily give up early rounds.

Look at Crolla at the weekend, will we use the fact that Murray roughed him up for 5/6 rounds as a stick to beat him with??

Liston gave up the early rounds against Ali.............The pay off never came in that fight..

Hagler gave up the early rounds against Leonard etc.......

Just complete baloney..........The pay off came against Khan but he was cut and getting outclassed......

Danny Garcia - world class heart, chin and power, above average skill set, average speed. Below average haircut. Why shave your locks halfway up your head?

I don't think he'll ever be a hall of famer (ignoring mcguigan) or p4p top 5.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Liston gave up the early rounds against Ali.............The pay off never came in that fight..

Hagler gave up the early rounds against Leonard etc.......

Just complete baloney..........The pay off came against Khan but he was cut and getting outclassed......

So you think they were surprised that Khan was so dominant early? Garcia's dad thought "wow, why isn't Danny able to match the speed of Khan!!??"

Doesn't make sense to say Garcia won because he was being outclassed. If he was being so outclassed then he would have continued to be outclassed. Peterson was outclassed for the first 2 rounds. Maidana was outclassed for around the first 5/6 before he began edging into the fight before an impressive 10th. Heck, Diaz was outclassed for about 4 rounds before he began to read Khan and then catch him.

Khan is great early, no disputing that. But his class becomes predictable. He always begins a fight going forward with pressure and then just like always he gets on his bike and starts running. He didn't get the chance to run against Garcia because he was read so quick.

Just because he is a potential Floyd opponent Truss doesn't mean you have to ignore these facts.

What I'm saying is..........He was being busted up by Khan and it's too easy to say well he knows he can get a hiding because he knows he's going to land a payoff.....

History would be littered with dodgy chinned fancy dans being handed their butts by heavy handed punchers and it isn't............

Imagine If Hagler caught Leonard in the 6th and stopped him people would say well he knew Leonard would beat him early because he knew he would land the payoff..

Too simplistic........Garcia was cut and being outclassed...Sure he had a punchers chance and prevailed but so did plenty of Khan's victims..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Liston gave up all the rounds against Ali.............The pay off came after that fight..  

    

Garcia was not lucky he had a plan and it worked in a very quick and efficient manner, Khan boxed well for 2 rounds whoopie doo.

His plan was Moriarty-esque..........and it worked to a tee..........

Including the exact second he was going to land the pay off no doubt.........Wasted as a fighter he should have been a Brain surgeon....

Should have been in Hagler's corner who no doubt had the same plan..

What? Garcia was planning a quiet beating? His plan failed then truss, we all saw the knockout punch, must have been a fluke after all

I just re-watched the Garcia fight and a few thoughts;

Khan's chin really isn't that bad, Garcia lands an absolutely perfect left hook, bang on the chin. That shot would have dropped the vast majority of LWWs. Khan was able to beat the count and survive the round (just). The amount of power shots he absorbed in the 4th is ridiculous. Garcia, who is decent hitter, was just teeing off on him, before landing a cuffing shot to the temple which again had Khan over. Kenny Bayliss then stops Khan on his feet, presumably due to the punishment Khan was taking, with roughly 50 seconds left in the round.

Khan's problem is that he has zero head movement, sticks his chin out, routinely drops his guard when throwing and, when he does get tagged, has the survival instincts of an infant.

Garcia is pretty crude. He throws a lot of wide shots, but he was clearly looking for the shot he eventually landed. He was getting broken up by Khan, but the way Khan fights (constantly dropping his left hand, not keeping his chin down, etc.) means that, although Khan is quicker and more accurate, unless he is able to iron out those flaws I reckon Garcia beats him 9 times out of 10.

Garcia is a decent, solid champ with some good names. He's certainly made the best of his ability, but I don't think it will be long until someone beats him. Mayweather or Pacquiao would absolutely demolish him.