By Edward Chaykovsky
Angel Garcia, father and trainer of WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs), expects his son to close the book on WBA champion Keith Thurman (27-0, 22KOs) in five rounds when the two boxers collide on March 4th.
Garcia will first take a tuneup on November 12th, when he faces Samuel Vargas (25-2-1, 13 KOs) in a 10-round non-title bout at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
Thurman, who last fought in June with a twelve round decision over Shawn Porter at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, is not taking an interim fight.
Angel says the critics are always treating his son harshly, but he's going to prove them wrong as he did in the past when he was competing at junior welterweight. Garcia was the perceived underdog in several fights at 140-pounds, but he always managed to find a way to win.
“Danny knows he’s the No. 1 king,” Angel told Premier Boxing Champions. “But just like at 140, they don’t give him respect and talk about him like he’s a nobody. We like when the odds are against Danny, though. He makes his toughest fights look easy.”
Angel considers Amir Khan to be a much better fighter than Thurman. Back in 2012, Garcia stopped Khan in four rounds in what was considered to be a big upset at the time. Angel expects his son to break Thurman down by busting up his body and then scoring a dramatic knockout in the fifth.
Once they are done with Thurman, Angel says they are willing to get in there with Floyd Mayweather Jr. - who retired last September.
“Khan was way better than Thurman, who will go for the knockout with big right-hand haymakers for three rounds. But Thurman’s going to be shocked when Danny makes him eat it,” Angel Garcia says. “Third round, Danny’s gonna start jumping on his ass, hurt him to the body like [Luis] Collazo did, and then Thurman’s getting knocked out cold in the fifth round.
“After that, if [Floyd] Mayweather comes back from retirement and wants to [fight Danny Garcia], we’ll take that fight, too. Danny wants the top guns in the division.”
