When Danny Gonzalez enters the ring on December 18 for his junior middleweight fight with Danny Garcia, it will be by far the biggest fight of his 13-year career. The 10-round bout is being hailed as Garcia’s farewell to the Barclays Center, a Brooklyn venue that has meant a great deal to what could be deemed a Hall of Fame career for the Philadelphia-based Garcia.
Still, Gonzalez, a seasoned veteran from the Woodhaven section of Queens, New York, says he won’t be overawed by the experience of stepping in the ring with the former two-division champion. That’s because Gonzalez has already spent about 30 rounds in the ring with Garcia, having been one of three sparring partners brought down to Philadelphia in 2018 to help Garcia prepare for his fight with Shawn Porter in that very building where he now gets his opportunity at a high-profile win.
Even then, when Gonzalez was little more than a local ticketseller in the New York City area, the fighter known as “El Gallo” knew this day would come.
“I always had a feeling that we might fight one day. And it's just crazy that it’s actually happening right now,” said Gonzalez, 22-4-1 (7 KOs).
“He’s saying it's his farewell to Brooklyn, it might be his last fight and stuff like that. I'm gonna make sure it's his last fight. So when I beat him, he's gonna retire, and that's the end of it for him. So the title works. But for me, it's my moment to really show that I'm at that high level, and that my stock is going to rise, beating a future Hall of Famer in Danny Garcia. He's done a lot, so beating him just raises my stock and opens up the world to who I am. It'll open up big opportunities and big fights for me.”
A win over Garcia, one of the most popular boxers of the previous decade, would go a long way toward Gonzalez’s long-standing battle for respect. The 35-year-old Gonzalez first picked up the sport at age 16, at his mother’s insistence, as a way to trim down his teenage frame from 250lbs. Within a few months, Gonzalez lost enough weight to compete in the 141lbs and 152lbs divisions of the Golden Gloves between 2009 and 2012, turning pro later in 2012 and starting his career at 14-0-1. There were setbacks along the way, like his 2017 stoppage loss to Danny O’Connor, or his competitive decision loss to former world titleholder Chris Algieri in 2019, or back-to-back decision losses to Petros Ananyan and Paulo Galdino.
There have also been highs, like a year ago in his previous fight, when he crossed the Hudson River to dominate Michael “Slick” Anderson over 10 rounds in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Gonzalez says the up-and-down nature of his career has tested his willpower through the years, but he believes a victory over Garcia would justify the difficulties he has had to persevere.
“I might be a little older than most, but I'm fresh, and I'm just catching my prime right now. I feel the smartest, the strongest, and I just feel ready to shock these people thinking that I'm a club-level fighter,” said Gonzalez.
“What kept me going in this game, more than anything, is that I have a mission, and my mission is very simple: I want to prove to all the people that hard work pays off. If anyone knows me, they know I've been grinding for 20 years, and I've been putting in hard work, and it needs to pay off on a big stage like this. They need to see me as world champion, because it's like the definition that hard work pays off, and that if you bust your ass, you stay consistent, you work hard, good things happen.”
Moises Roman Jnr believes good things will pay off on October 18. Roman – Gonzalez’s trainer/manager, who first started training Gonzalez when he was a teenager – says it works to his fighter’s advantage that he’s being counted out as an opponent, giving Gonzalez the right motivation to prove a point.
“Garcia always says he was the underdog going into every fight and won, and never count out the underdog,” Roman said. “But guess what? Gallo is the underdog in this fight, and we will not be denied.
“Gallo has heart, grit, mental determination and, most importantly, he knows a win on October 18 will put him in position to hopefully challenge for a world title down the line.”
The conditions for an upset would seem to be there. Garcia, now 37, hasn’t fought since September 2024, when he was stopped in nine rounds against Erislandy Lara in a challenge for the WBA middleweight title. Prior to that, he had fought just once since 2021, when he won a majority decision over Jose Benavidez Jnr in 2022. Garcia has been far more active developing his Swift Promotions company in the past year than he has been in the ring.
Gonzalez doesn’t put too much stock into what happened in sparring all those years ago, saying that it’s a different game when you’re playing for keeps with no headgear and smaller gloves. What he does feel will make a difference is the hard work he has put into his career, and the lessons learned the hard way that have molded him into the fighter he is today.
“I don't know if he's on the come-down, but it looks like he's on the come-down,” said Gonzalez. “I'm ready for a prime Danny Garcia; I'm not thinking he's coming in light. I think he's coming in to try to prove something. I'm not stupid. He's trying to knock me the hell out, and I'm trying to do the exact same thing to him.
“What I do know is how much I grew and how much better I am. And I don't think he's ready for that, and I think he's going to be a little shellshocked of what type of fighter I am today compared to those sparring sessions eight years ago. I'm just better in every way, shape and form.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
