This is far from a last chance opportunity for Danny Garcia.
Rather, it’s a first chance at cementing his legacy as one of the best among his generation.
I feel great,” Garcia insists of his upcoming challenge of unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence (26-0, 21KOs). “This is definitely another chapter in my career. This is my chance to have a beautiful ending.”
Philadelphia’s Garcia (36-2, 21KOs) marches into the lion’s den for his bid at becoming a two-time welterweight titlist. Saturday’s fight—which airs live on Fox Sports Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET—takes place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, just outside of Spence’s hometown of Desoto, Texas.
A modest two-fight win streak precedes Garcia's shot at unseating Spence, in what serves as his first title fight since a 12-round loss to Shawn Porter in September 2018. A vacant welterweight belt was at stake, one which Garcia sought to regain after losing to then-unbeaten titlist Keith Thurman in their March 2017 unification clash.
The welterweight division has not been kind to Garcia, claiming both of his career defeats and just one victory at the title level. It came in a 12-round decision win over Robert Guerrero in their January 2016 vacant title fight, less than a year after officially abandoning his lineal junior welterweight championship reign. Garcia served as the king of the 140-pound division, which peaked at his 12-round win over perceived boogeyman Lucas Matthysse in September 2013.
Just one title defense would follow, a disputed 12-round decision over Mauricio Herrera in March 2014 in his last fight where he would officially enter as a junior welterweight. Garcia is 8-2 since then, with all but one win coming in non-title fights.
Needless to say, the 32-year old is still left with plenty to prove at welterweight even though he is barely three rounds away from still being undefeated. A résume of Spence, Porter and Thurman—all in a span of less than four years—doesn’t quite support his undeserved reputation as a cherry picker, though he still embraces his first PPV headliner as an opportunity to further his own cause.
“Another storybook ending, unifying the titles which will put me where I want to be in my career,” believes Garcia. “Every fight that I have is a legacy fight. We’ve put in a lot of hard work, emotion and dedication. We did this before. We ain’t new at this. December 5, we coming.
"This is it. This is the fight you got to win. This is for legacy. Besides everything else, this is a fight I have to win. Every day I’ve been in here working hard, just focusing on one goal and that’s just to win.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox