By Ryan Burton
Danny Garcia became a contender to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he defeated Lucas Matthysse on September 14th. BoxingScene.com spoke to Golden Boy Promotions shareholder Bernard Hopkins shortly after Garcia's impressive performance to get his take on a potential Mayweather-Garcia fight.
Hopkins said that Garcia is good at making adjustments in the ring and that most of Mayweather's opponents aren't able to adapt to his defense. He thinks that Garcia, who is based in Philadephia, gets the sparring and training that is necessary to deal with Mayweather's shoulder roll and defensive style.
"You have to be able to touch him to change that. Styles make fights. The difference between Danny Garcia fighting Floyd Mayweather if it is possible, and anybody else that Floyd Mayweather fought other than Shane Mosley, who did heavy work, is to be around the African American's soul and spirit. To understand when a guy do this (shoulder roll) and a guy do that and your not squared up. Certain cultures have certain ways of approaching situations and when you get a guy who understands the chess game of why a guy uses offense to make defense because he is waiting to counter," Hopkins said.
"Danny did something [with Matthysse], when you watch the tape when you get home, a couple of times he was on the ropes and he got trapped and he used his shoulder and he rolled. One time he did it and he threw two or three punches and caught Matthysse. He (Matthysse) was surprised because that is not Danny. Danny squares up and rumbles you back and it is a big brawl and the crowd is screaming, but Matthysse took damage from that. That was one of the changes in this fight.
"Danny Garcia will be in his gym and the gym in North Philly with guys like myself and younger guys who can emulate and imitate the Floyd style. You need to have the ability to adapt and adjust to the style."
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