Danny Garcia: record, next fight and profile →
Saturday’s highly anticipated showdown between Keith “One Time” Thurman and Danny “Swift” Garcia ranked as the highest-grossing non-Nets sporting event in Barclays Center history. The event also set a record for boxing attendance at Barclays Center with 16,533.
By Tris Dixon - Ghosts linger in the welterweight division. Maybe it is because Sugar Ray Leonard loitered, incredibly youthfully, through fight week in New York. Maybe nostalgia loomed in part because CBS/Showtime compared the welterweight unification fight between WBA champion Keith Thurman and WBC ruler Danny Garcia to the first clash between Leonard and Tommy Hea...
Danny Garcia wants rematch - Keith Thurman built a big lead over Danny Garcia and held on to add the WBC welterweight title to his WBA championship Saturday night. Thurman won his 28th straight fight and handed Garcia his first loss in 34 bouts. After five furious rounds to open things at Barclays Center, the pace slowed — even bringing boos from the large crowd at times.
He wasn’t hurt. That was Danny Garcia’s contention in the aftermath of his split-decision defeat to Keith Thurman in their welterweight title unification fight Saturday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Thurman caught Garcia with a counter left hook with just under a minute left in the first round, and followed up with a pair of right hands that left Garcia holding briefly near a corner.
CBS was the No. 1 network in prime time on Saturday night, according to Nielsen overnight ratings, with the live broadcast of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS, presented by Premier Boxing Champions.
NEW YORK – When asked if his father was upset about the split decision that resulted in his first professional defeat Saturday night, Danny Garcia couldn’t help but laugh as he answered. “My dad’s always upset,” Danny Garcia said of Angel Garcia, his father and trainer. “He thought I won the fight. He thought I won the fight. He was a little upset, but I told him, ‘When you’re a true champion, you’ve gotta take your defeats like your wins.’ ”
Danny Garcia was buzzed early and responded by landing just 10 of 33 punches per round over the first nine rounds. As Keith Thurman took his foot of the gas in rounds nine through twelve (six power landed per round over last three after landing 9 per round in previous nine), Garcia upped the pace, landing an average of 13 of 46 total punches. Overall, Thurman threw and landed more punches in eight of twelve rounds and landed the harder punches in the fight.
Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia Fight Photos Gallery - Keith Thurman built a big lead over Danny Garcia and held on to add the WBC welterweight title to his WBA championship Saturday night. Thurman won his 28th straight fight and handed Garcia his first loss in 34 bouts. After five furious rounds to open things at Barclays Center, the pace slowed - even bringing boos from the large crowd at times. But it ended with a flourish of exchanges in the 12th and final round. And with Thurman holding up two belts.
Hardcore boxing followers may have been intrigued. Having seen far worse fights, they’ll easily convince themselves that ‘it wasn’t that bad.’ It would miss the point. In the most anticipated fight so far of 2017, after a string of exciting fights this year including a blazing upset earlier in the day when Tony Bellew beat David Haye, boxing laid an egg. It was exactly the wrong kind of fight in front of the wrong mass of audience.
Keith Thurman Post Fight Presser - Keith Thurman is the unified welterweight world champion. Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) unified boxing's glamour division with a split-decision victory over Danny Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday, defending his WBA belt and picking up Garcia's WBC crown on boxing's biggest stage in primetime on CBS from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™.