Danny Garcia is “85 per cent” sure his next fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn will be the final contest of his career.
The 37-year-old Philadelphian, a world champion at 140 and 147lbs, faces David Gonzalez on October 18 more than a year on from Garcia’s audacious attempt to wrest the WBA middleweight title from Erislandy Lara.
Gonzalez, from Queens, is 22-4-1 (7 KOs), while the 37-4 (21 KOs) Garcia has been fighting at world level for about 15 years.
Garcia is working behind the scenes, too, managing and promoting, helping them while helping himself into a new role in life after boxing.
There is a chance the Gonzalez bout, on a Swift Promotions bill, is not the last fight of Garcia’s stellar career, but he knows the end is near.
“I always loved boxing and that’s why I'm doing this fight, for the sport, this is more for the love [of boxing], to give my fans a win, go out with a bang. And that’s pretty much it,” he told BoxingScene. “This is why I'm doing this fight on October 18th, for the love of the sport, not for no other reason.”
Garcia, however, admits he has been frustrated by the lack of activity in the final stages of his career, not least the near two-year period out of the ring before the Lara bout. But providing a platform for young fighters to come through on and develop on is something he remains passionate about.
He can feel hunger and ambition in the youngsters, too.
“I mean, even as far as the younger guys in the gym, you could just see their eyes,” Garcia said.
“Like they got that hunger, they got that spark and that’s what you need around you. You need those young guys. And those guys are going to try to come beat you up. They want what you have. So they see how I’m living. They see what I accomplished. They want what I wanted. That’ll definitely put you back in the game.”
And yet, Garcia admits the spark is not as easy to fire up as it used to be.
“Sometimes it’s tough, I’m not going to lie,” he continued.
“It’s tough just because the older you get… I feel good… I feel great, but the recovery takes longer, you got a family and stuff, so you lose a lot of time with your family. You lose a lot of things when it comes to boxing. This is a real sacrifice. And if you don’t enjoy that type of process, then maybe you’ll never make it to the top or you’re not meant to be a fighter.”
Garcia has made it to the top. He wanted to be a three-weight champion, but the loss to Lara meant he fell short of those lofty aspirations. But he has boxed a who’s who of top fighters in and around his weight class and he believes that has cemented his spot as one of the best fighters ever to come out of Philly.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. “I definitely feel like I’m up there, for sure. There’s too many greats, you know: Joe Frazier, Bernard Hopkins, Danny Garcia, Meldrick Taylor, just so many great fighters from Philly. I mean, David Reid, right now, ‘Cool Boy’ Steph [Stephen Fulton], Jaron Ennis, Tevin Farmer, Julian Williams, just so many great champions from Philly.
“But I definitely feel like I’m up there because I’m the first Puerto Rican from Philadelphia to be a world champion. So I feel like that sets me aside and it’s crazy because Philadelphia is a fighting city. How was there never a Hispanic champion from there? So I take pride in that and I think that’s why I’m far up in that list.”
But it is back at the Barclays Center where Garcia returns next month, and that has become a home from home for him.
“Yeah, this is my 10th fight at the Barclays,” Garcia said. “Most headline fights at the Barclays. So I take pride in that. The fans love me in Brooklyn. I’m looking for a great turnout that night and my fans love me. I know they’re going to come out for the final one.”
