By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – If Danny Garcia-Keith Thurman is a highly competitive fight that leaves doubt about who deserved to win, there’s no guarantee that they’ll fight again.
Garcia confirmed Thursday that there isn’t a rematch clause in the contracts for their 12-round welterweight championship unification fight Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (CBS; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
“There’s no rematch clause,” Garcia said before a press conference Thursday in Manhattan. “It’s a big fight. It is what it is. We’ve gotta go in there and get the victory.”
Philadelphia’s Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs), the WBC world welterweight champion, has won two debatable majority decisions over Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson within the past three years. He also has split-decision wins against Kendall Holt and Ashley Theophane on his record, though the Holt fight wasn’t nearly as competitive as one of the scorecards indicated (115-113 for Holt).
Thurman, however, has won only unanimous decisions in his five professional fights that have gone the distance. The unbeaten WBA world welterweight champion doesn’t think Garcia can win a decision against him, despite that Garcia has made Barclays Center his home away from home by boxing there five times since it held its first boxing event in October 2012.
New York’s John McKaie, New York’s Kevin Morgan and New Jersey’s Joe Pasquale are the three judges who’ve been assigned to work the Garcia-Thurman fight. Morgan scored the Garcia-Peterson fight 115-113 for Garcia, as did New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld.
Regardless, Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC), of Clearwater, Florida, intends to give McKaie, Morgan and Pasquale every reason to score the fight for him by decisively out-boxing Garcia.
“I know Danny’s ready,” Thurman said. “I’m ready. He feels confident. I feel confident. I feel I’ve got more to offer. I believe I can box my way into victory. The whole camp, because I’m a great visualizer – I visualize outcomes and possible challenges to face. I don’t think Danny wins without a stoppage. I believe if it goes to the scorecards, it’s gonna favor Keith Thurman.
“Now a lot of people say, ‘Well, you’re in New York. He’s from Philly. How do you feel about the judges?’ You’ve gotta understand, these are the judges [holds up fists]. The definition of boxing is to hit and not get hit. People that did well against Danny never defeated him in the way that I defeated Shawn Porter, which is a unanimous decision – seven rounds here, five rounds here, to where it’s clear. They just never really got the best of Danny Garcia. Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is coming to get the best of Danny Garcia.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
