Danny Garcia wants to fight Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr. later this year.
Garcia hasn’t given up hope, however, on the pursuit of avenging his first professional defeat. The Philadelphia native “definitely” hopes he can secure a rematch with Keith Thurman while the former welterweight champions remain in their physical primes.
“That’s just a fight that’s supposed to happen,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com recently. “Everyone has their rivalries. This is one of my rivals. I feel like I won the first fight. You know, it was a close split decision. But yeah, definitely, I’m ready to take on everybody.”
Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) and Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) were undefeated when they met in a welterweight title unification fight in March 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Thurman won their 12-round, 147-pound bout by split decision because judges John McKaie (116-112) and Joe Pasquale (115-113) scored it for him.
Judge Kevin Morgan scored their extremely competitive contest 115-113 for Garcia.
Garcia has lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Shawn Porter since Thurman beat him. Pacquiao beat Thurman by split decision in Thurman’s last fight, July 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Their subsequent defeats aside, Garcia-Thurman rematch still would be a marketable matchup. Their first fight was watched by a peak audience of 5,100,000 and drew an average viewership of 3,740,000 on CBS.
“It would feel great to beat [Thurman],” Garcia said. “I never got over it [losing to Thurman], none of them. I hate it. I hate losing. I’ll never accept losing. I’ll accept it on paper, but in my heart, I never will.”
The 31-year-old Garcia is training for his return to the ring January 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Garcia will face Ukrainian underdog Ivan Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) that night in a 12-round welterweight fight Showtime will televise as the main event of a tripleheader.
Thurman, of Clearwater, Florida, had surgery to repair his left hand in September. His return from losing to Pacquiao has not yet been scheduled.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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