By Keith Idec
Danny Garcia gave an honest yet telling explanation on a conference call Thursday as to why his April 11 fight against Lamont Peterson won’t be fought for their 140-pound titles.
They agreed to a catch weight of 143 pounds, according to Garcia, because he has had increasing difficulty getting down to the 140-pound limit and didn’t feel he had enough time during this training camp to cut the extra weight in a way that’d benefit him.
“I’ve been at 140 since I was an amateur, since 2006,” Garcia said. “I’ve put a lot of strain on my body making the weight, so I did what’s best for me, to fight at this weight. My last fight I fought at a catch weight [142 pounds]. I’m not saying that I can’t make 140 again, but with the time off since August, I don’t want to cheat the fans. I want to give them my best and, like I said, in order for the fight to be made this is the weight it had to be at.”
Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) owns the WBA and WBC 140-pound championships. The Philadelphia native hasn’t defended those titles since winning a controversial majority decision against Mauricio Herrera (21-5, 7 KOs) last March 15 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. His last bout, which resulted in an easy second-round knockout of lightweight Rod Salka (20-4, 3 KOs) on Aug. 9 in Brooklyn, was a non-title fight for which both boxers were allowed to weigh as much as 142 pounds.
He’ll eventually move up to welterweight, though Garcia isn’t certain just when.
“Right now I have to just stay focused on April 11th,” said Garcia, who’ll oppose Peterson at Barclays Center in the main event of a NBC broadcast. “I’m not really worried about what’s going to happen next – if I’m going to defend [the titles] in the summertime or vacate them. But right now it’s Lamont Peterson at 143 pounds, April 11th, and all I can say it’s going to be a great fight, a tremendous fight.”
Garcia believes his fight against Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs) will deliver the type of entertainment that’ll make people forget whether they’re fighting for his WBA and WBC and Peterson’s IBF titles.
“In order for this fight to be done in the time we had for it to be done, that’s the weight we had to fight at,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, I feel like this is still a fight that the fans want to see. This is still a big fight – with the belts or without the belts. I think if the media just lets it go already and accepts that it’s going to be a big fight without the belts, come April 11 I guarantee you the media and the fans won’t even be talking about that anymore because the fight will be so good.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
