By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Danny Garcia has defied odds before.

That’s why he knows better than to read too much into handicappers installing Keith Thurman as the favorite in their welterweight championship unification fight March 4 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Philadelphia’s Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) is a 2-1 underdog against Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs), of Clearwater, Florida, six weeks in advance of their 12-round fight for Garcia’s WBC world welterweight title and Thurman’s WBA world 147-pound championship.

“I don’t pay no attention to [the odds],” Garcia said following a press conference Wednesday to officially announce their fight. “I know what I can do. I guess Vegas don’t like me. That’s why I’m fighting in Brooklyln. [Laughs]. But nah, it’s cool. At the end of the day, I’m not worried about that kind of stuff. It is what it is. It’s a sport. People wanna choose who they wanna choose. My job is to get ready and win.”

Garcia, a former WBA/WBC super lightweight champion, also was an underdog in what to date have been the two most noteworthy fights of his nine-year pro career.

Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse was more than a 2-1 favorite over Garcia entering their 140-pound title fight on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Canelo Alvarez pay-per-view undercard in September 2013. Garcia won a 12-round unanimous decision over Matthysse (then 34-2, 32 KOs, 1 NC), whom many boxing experts expected to knock out Garcia in Las Vegas.

Amir Khan also was favored over Garcia, 6-1 according to several Internet sports books, before their fight for Khan’s WBA super lightweight title and Garcia’s WBC 140-pound championship 4½ years ago in Las Vegas. Garcia stopped England’s Khan (then 26-2, 18 KOs) in the fourth round of that bout and changed the course of his career.

“I was looking at Danny Garcia’s record today,” said Lou DiBella, the official promoter of the March 4 card. “He has wins over Amir Khan and Lucas Matthysse, when they supposedly were unbeatable. And he has beaten 10 former world champions in his career. And he still doesn’t get the respect he deserves. And on March 4th, I know he and [father/trainer] Angel [Garcia] are fighting for that respect.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.