Garcia Not Upset About Not Getting Mayweather Shot
By Keith Idec
Danny Garcia would be well within his rights to claim that he, not Marcos Maidana or Amir Khan, deserves a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3.
But Garcia continued towing the Al Haymon/Golden Boy Promotion company line Wednesday, when the WBA/WBC 140-pound champion was asked on a conference call about not facing boxing’s biggest cash cow.
“I let Al Haymon do what he does and I’ll let [Golden Boy] do what they do,” Garcia said. “We weren’t pressing for the fight because we let Golden Boy do their job and let Al do his job. I never question what Al does and I never question what my team does, so whoever they sign me to fight, I’ll fight, and I’ll train and get ready for it.”
A reporter pointed out, though, that a Mayweather-Garcia fight made plenty of sense after Philadelphia’s Garcia (27-0, 16 KOs) impressively defeated favored power-puncher Lucas Matthysse (34-3, 32 KOs, 1 NC) on the Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez undercard Sept. 14 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Garcia acknowledged that he eventually wants to challenge Mayweather, the sport’s undisputed pound-for-pound king, yet again deferred to his handlers.
“I’m a boxer, at the end of the day,” Garcia responded. “I like to fight the best, so if that’s what my manager wants and that’s what my team wants, that’s what I want.
“I just let destiny be destiny. I’m OK [with] whatever happens. Like I said before, I don’t question my manager’s job. I never did. And I think that’s why we’re in this position today, where people think I should be fighting him and people think I deserve the fight, because my manager and my promoter did a great job so far. So I think they’re doing a good job. I’m doing my job and hopefully the fight might happen one day.”
Garcia instead will defend his junior welterweight titles against decided underdog Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7 KOs), of Riverside, Calif., on March 15 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Garcia suggested Wednesday that he’s not quite ready to move up 147 pounds, a prerequisite for fighting Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs).
“I’m still young,” said Garcia, who’ll turn 26 on March 20. “I’m 25 years old. I’m growing. I’m building my own legacy. You know, 140, it’s a little hard to make it. It’s a sacrifice. But I’m pretty sure if I move up to 147 it’s going to be hard, too. I don’t think the weight was an issue. But I feel like I grew into the 140-pound weight class and I still feel real strong. I feel real good making the weight and I still do good in the gym. So I didn’t feel like it was time for me to move up yet.”
Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions’ chief executive officer, thinks the timing for Garcia’s move up to welterweight for a Mayweather showdown probably is about a year away.
“I’m getting more and more questions, ‘Hey, is Danny going to fight Floyd?’ And so there’s more and more excitement building up about that fight,” Schaefer said Wednesday on the conference call to promote the Garcia-Herrera card. “So assuming Floyd handles the challenges ahead of him, do I believe that maybe sometime next year, maybe a year from now, in May of 2015, we might see, assuming Floyd keeps on winning, we’re going to see a Floyd-Danny Garcia fight? Absolutely. And I can just imagine how much of an anticipated showdown that will be.”
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.
