Two-division world champion Danny Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) is only a few days away from his scheduled ring return - after spending nearly a year away from the ring.

Garcia is back this coming Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas - when he faces former world champion Brandon Rios (34-3-1, 25 KOs) in a WBC final welterweight eliminator. Showtime will televise.

Garcia is standing firm on his position that he did more than enough to earn a victory over Thurman in their WBC, WBA welterweight unification clash.

Thurman has also been out of the ring. He underwent elbow surgery following that bout. Thurman maintains that his injury was pre-existing and that he entered the Garcia contest with that ailment.

Garcia admits that he may have shown Thurman a little too much respect in the early going - and that may have hurt him early on, but he also feels the judges did not give him credit for pushing the fight in the championship rounds.

“You forget what it was like to want what was yours. I lost that fight on paper. He’s the one who got hurt. Maybe I gave him too much respect in the early rounds. But aggressive fighters aren’t getting the respect from the judges that they used to," Garcia told Press Enterprise.

After that loss, Garcia says that his popularity in Philadelphia went unaffected. According to Garcia, his fans were praising him and providing their support in every corner of the city.

“I was boxing for 20 years,” he said. “I wasn’t sure eight months off were enough. I needed a chance to be a regular person, a dad. I’d go around Philadelphia and everybody still loved me. Until the Eagles won, I was the only champ they had," Garcia said.