by David P. Greisman
Danny Garcia says he’s open to a bout with Lamont Peterson, though the lineal junior-welterweight champion isn’t overly impressed with his fellow 140-pound titleholder.
“If he wants to do it, let’s do it,” Garcia told reporters following his second-round knockout of Rod Salka on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. “At the end of the day, I’m a fighter and that’s what I do.”
Later, he added: “I want to fight the best fighters. I feel like Danny Garcia, at his best, nobody can touch him. Let’s do it. Like I said, I don’t duck fighters. I’ve beaten better fighters than him [Peterson].”
Lucas Matthysse’s name was mentioned — again and again — by Golden Boy Promotions Vice President Eric Gomez. Garcia topped Matthysse by decision last year.
“And Matthysse knocked out Lamont Peterson,” Garcia said.
Garcia’s fight followed a co-feature in which Peterson stopped Edgar Santana.
“I saw it. It was a phone booth fight. It was a good fight, but it wasn’t nothing to lose sleep over, to be honest with you,” Garcia said. “It was just a regular fight. They was just in their phone booth, in the pocket fighting all night. I take nothing away from them. They’re two gladiators going to war. It takes a lot of heart to go in the ring. Congratulations to both of them guys who put on a good show.”
Garcia-Salka was at 142, which he said was a relief for him.
“I felt strong. I didn’t have to put that extra pressure on me. I did a good diet. I did everything well,” he said. Later, he said allowing for additional pound on his frames would benefit him: “I’d be a lot stronger. I’d be able to think better. I’d be a lot better. Tonight just proved it.”
He began his career fighting a handful of pounds above the junior-welterweight limit but has otherwise been around 140 since his amateur days, he said. But Garcia said a fight between the champion at 140 and a world titleholder at 140 doesn’t need to take place at that weight.
“We can fight. It don’t have to be at 140. It can be in the middle somewhere,” Garcia said. “We can fight. A fight is a fight. At the end of the day, titles are good, but if the fans want to see the fight we can make any fight happen. Any fight can happen in boxing.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
