By Rick Reeno
Angel Garcia, the father and trainer of WBC/WBA junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia (26-0, 16KOs), is convinced his boxer has already beaten better fighters than mandatory challenger Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32KOs). The fight takes place later tonight in the co-feature position to Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul Alvarez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
One of the fighters who Angel thinks is better than Matthysse is British superstar Amir Khan. Last July in Las Vegas, Garcia scored an upset fourth round TKO of Khan to unify the WBC/WBA titles.
"Khan is a more skillful fighter and Khan is fast, but the only thing with Khan is that he got no chin. But Matthysse has never been tested [on his chin]. We knew Khan had no chin, because he got clipped years ago. But Matthysse has never been hit by a guy like Danny. And the 32 guys he hit, he was supposed to knock out. The only guy he wasn't supposed to knock out was Peterson and Peterson was terrified of him," Angel told BoxingScene.com.
During most of the fight week activities, Angel has ripped Matthysse at every turn. Angel is angered with the recent trend of foreign fighters getting more television exposure, and more opportunities, than American fighters.
"I'm just being honest, I'm just speaking my mind. That's freedom of speech. He understood [what I said]. Yeah, he no speak no English, he no speak no English - but he knows how to cash that English check. When Golden Boy sends him a check in English to Matthysse, and then it says $800,000 and he's lucky that he's getting that much. I spoke in Spanish too so he understood. He could be the coolest guy in the world, but he's no friend of mine," Garcia said.
