It’s good to be Danny Garcia. Coming off the biggest win of his young career over the highly-touted knockout artist Lucas Matthysse last September on the biggest stage of last year, the under card of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s drubbing of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Now the undefeated Garcia is set to climb back into a ring after a well-deserved rest and this time in a first not only for him but also for his promoter, Golden Boy. Garcia will defend his titles against newly signed Mauricio Herrera in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in the first ever foray into the island by Oscar De La Hoya’s outfit. The event will be co-promoted by Puerto Rico’s Best Boxing Promotions and broadcast live by Showtime.
Garcia’s position is one of leverage. Considered a possible future opponent for Mayweather Jr, Garcia along with his father Angel have stated in no uncertain terms that they are not clamoring for the fight versus the Pound for Pound best and are willing to wait for their terms. Although Garcia has said that he is eager to climb up to the welterweight division, he is taking his sweet time and might just finish off the year at the 140-pound limit.
It is only in his best interest and his pocketbook to increase his profile as much as he can before eventually facing “Money” Mayweather Jr before the latter’s last announced fight in September 2015. One way to do so is by unifying the majority of the belts in his current weight class. Garcia holds the WBC and WBA titles. The WBC he captured in March of 2012 by defeating veteran Erik “Terrible” Morales in a much closer fight that the cards reflected. The WBA one came one fight later when he easily knocked out Amir Khan in the fourth round of a scheduled twelve. After IBF champ Lamont Peterson defended his strap this past weekend against mandatory challenger Dierry Jean in his hometown of D.C., the fight he mentioned he wanted sooner or later was against Danny Garcia.
Both fighters fight under the banner of Golden Boy so the fight wouldn’t be hard to make. Granted, after facing former champions Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt, the aforementioned Morales twice and Khan, Zab Judah and Matthysse in a row, those in the know agree that Garcia is due what some would consider an “easy” fight.
Is Herrera it?
A veteran of twenty-three fights, “El Maestro” has three losses at the hands of former world champ Mike Alvarado, up and coming prospect Karim Mayfield and Mike Anchondo. Herrera does have a win over current champion Ruslan Provodnikov back in early 2011 and is on a two-win streak over tough veterans Ji-Hoon Kim and Miguel Angel Huerta.
It would be hard to believe that Golden Boy would risk so much, a future Mayweather Jr opponent and an emerging star for such an important fan base as Puerto Ricans in Garcia with a fighter they barely signed last week in Herrera.
This is only a chance for Garcia to make a seven-figure payday, get some color on his skin and score a spectacular knock out on his way to bigger and better things.
