Danny Garcia Finding Out Winning Isn’t Always Enough

Published

10 years ago

July 28, 2015

There are several ways of determining when a particular fighter is hot, and when he’s not. One of those ways is whether the fighter in question is calling someone else out, or someone is calling him out.

If you’re the one petitioning to be granted a shot at someone better-known and more of a box-office draw, you’re probably not as toasty as you’d prefer to be. But if other highly regarded fighters are pleading for you to give them a chance to mix it up for glory and riches, you’re certifiably sizzling. In boxing, the targeted few are almost always hotter commodities than the glut of hunters seeking to turn them into trophy conquests.

By that admittedly imprecise rule of thumb, now-former super lightweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia, whose career hardly has been refrigerated, has at least cooled to something akin to room temperature. The 27-year-old Philadelphian of Puerto Rican descent is 30-0, with 17 victories inside the distance, but even when he was widely considered the best 140-pound fighter on the planet, Garcia never awed opponents and the public to the same degree as, say, a Gennady Golovkin or a Sergey Kovalev. Good on many fronts but not commandingly spectacular in any one area, he always has been cloaked in a cape of perceived vulnerability.

Now, after three bouts in which he failed to build upon the momentum created by his watershed unanimous decision over Argentine power-puncher Lucas Matthysse on Sept. 14, 2013, Garcia is hoping a move up to welterweight and an impressive performance against veteran two-division former champ Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) will reestablish him as a fighter who not that long ago seemed to be on the periphery of legitimate stardom.

Garcia-Malignaggi is the scheduled 12-round main event of Saturday night’s “Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN,” at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., the co-feature of which has WBA middleweight champ Daniel Jacobs (29-1, 26 KOs) defending against former WBC super welter titlist Sergio Mora (28-3-2, 9 KOs).

It is somewhat telling that Garcia, who sees himself as a pay-per-view attraction, is making his 147-pound debut on basic cable against the 34-year-old Malignaggi, who hasn’t fought since he was knocked out in four rounds by then-IBF welterweight ruler Shawn Porter on April 19 of last year. Although the clever, soft-punching Malignaggi hasn’t stowed away his own dreams as an active fighter, it would not have surprised anyone had he the winner of the 2013 Boxing Writers Association of America’s Sam Taub Award for excellence in broadcast journalism (as a color analyst for Showtime) decided to concentrate full-time on his duties at ringside instead of those inside the ropes.

Also telling is the fact that Garcia, one of the nearly 200 fighters under contract to the mysterious and powerful Al Haymon, seemingly has been designated as something less than one of Haymon’s top priorities. Even if Garcia pummels Malignaggi into submission – not an easy thing to do, given Paulie’s history as a punishment-evasive technician – it isn’t likely to be the kind of exclamation-point triumph that his wins, as an underdog, over Matthysse and Amir Khan (fourth-round TKO on July 14, 2012) were.

No wonder Garcia is publicly wishing to move to the front of the line for high-visibility bouts against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) and Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) before those aging but still highly bankable stars decide to hang up their gloves.

“As far as those guys, I don’t know,” Garcia said of his apparently slim chances of snagging a coveted date against May or Pac. “They say this (Sept. 2 against the ever-popular opponent to be named) is Mayweather’s last fight, and Pacquiao’s made a lot of money so I really can’t say what he plans to do. (The Filipino also is promoted by Bob Arum, who has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Haymon.) But welterweight is a stacked division, and I feel my style matches up good with any of those guys. I’m ready to take on anybody.”

Perhaps most significant, Garcia has won an internal battle that has done in more than a few fighters who made the mistake of lingering too long at a no-longer-feasible weight.

“To be honest, I felt like my 140 days were over after I beat Matthysse,” Garcia said at his gym in the gritty Juniata Park section of Philadelphia. “After that fight, it felt like that was all I had left. It really affected me when I had to make weight after that. I was just training to take the pounds off. I wasn’t training to get better.

“Making me fight at 140 was forcing me to fight only one way, and that was to just come forward. My body wasn’t feeling strong enough to be more athletic or to do anything else. Really, I should have moved up to 147 two years ago. But the time is now and I’m feeling strong again, like I did when I fought Matthysse and Khan. After (Matthysse), I didn’t feel strong anymore. I didn’t have a lot of snap on my punches.”

Garcia estimated he performed at “about 65 or 70 percent” of peak efficiency for his three post-Matthysse fights – a disputed majority decision over Mauricio Herrera in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in which Garcia retained his WBC and WBA titles; a two-round, non-title blowout of an obviously overmatched Rod Salka, and another disputed majority decision, over IBF champion Lamont Peterson, with neither man’s belt was on the line with a contracted catch weight of 143 pounds.

“I did lose some momentum in my last three fights,” conceded Garcia, whose girlfriend is expected to deliver the couple’s first child, a daughter, on Aug. 11. “But I’m a young fighter. I had a layoff of eight months (between the Salka and Peterson bouts), and those long layoffs, and having to keep coming down to 140, hurt me so much. Still, I think I benefited in some ways. If you don’t have tough fights, you’re not going to learn. You can’t get better if you’re just walking through everybody, so how can you know what you got to work on?

“The way I look at it, everything that’s happened in my career is a learning experience. Now I know my weaknesses, what I have to work on in the gym. I’m looking at those last three fights as a blessing in disguise.”

So, too, in his own way is Malignaggi, who sees Garcia as his best opportunity to regain some of his receded relevance. Paulie was to have taken on Danny O’Connor (26-2, 10 KOs) on May 29, but he was cut over the eye in training camp and the bout was canceled. Not long after that, he was approached about the possibility of getting it on with Garcia, an offer he was quick to accept.

“I really didn’t think I was going to come back,” he said. “But I’m a competitor. I’m all about competing against the best. This is an opportunity for me to kind of put myself back in the mix with one really good performance as opposed to slowly getting back over the course of three, four fights.

“I’m 34, not 24. I don’t really have that kind of patience anymore. This fight just fell into my lap. It was unexpected. But, really, it was something I couldn’t say no to.”

Even with the presumed drawbacks – Garcia in a bit of a mini-slump, Malignaggi holding off retirement just a bit longer – the pairing isn’t without its elements of intrigue. Both Garcia and Malignaggi appeared on the first boxing card ever staged at the Barclays Center, on Oct. 20, 2012. Garcia defended his WBC and WBA titles on a fourth-round knockout of future Hall of Famer Erik Morales while Malignaggi retained his WBA welter strap on a split decision over Pablo Cesar Cano. But that’s not all: Each believes the Barclays Center to be friendly home territory, with Garcia making his fifth appearance there and Brooklyn native Malignaggi his fourth.

“New York has a lot of people who can relate to me,” Garcia said. “They’re Puerto Rican, but they were born and raised in New York. They love and respect me because I’m cut from the same cloth.”

Angel Garcia, Danny’s always-loquacious father-trainer, figures crowd support will be split right down the middle.

“Malignaggi has a big, big fan base there,” he said. “There are a lot of Italians in New York, as well as a lot of Puerto Ricans. Everybody’s going to be for somebody in this fight, which is good for the sport, and good for the fans.”

Not that Angel believes the pro-Malignaggi contingent will go home happy. He said his son has trained hard at cutting off Malignaggi’s escape routes, and now that he’s no longer starving himself to pare down to 140, the improvement will be immediately evident.

“We know what Malignaggi’s going to try to do,” the father said. “Everybody wants to run from Danny. They think that’s his weak spot. They think that boxing him is the way to beat him. But guess what? He’s still undefeated.

“I’m not going to underestimate or take nothin’ from Malignaggi. He’s been around a long time. But he’s a runner, and at the end of the fight Danny’s hand is going to be raised again.”

Danny Garcia said it’s “very important” not only to have his hand raised, but to make the kind of definitive statement he didn’t – couldn’t — make in his last three fights.

“There are a lot of fighters who have hot streaks and blow past everybody, but then they lose a little momentum and they can’t seem to get it back,” he said. “My last three fights, I proved I can still win without a lot of momentum. Yeah, Danny Garcia had an off-night here and there, but he still won. That’s what separates a good fighter from a great fighter.

“Now I’m active again, I’m strong again, and I feel like my best performances are ahead of me. You’ll see. It’s going to be a great night.”

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Bernard Fernandez

Avila Perspective, Chap. 320: Women’s Hall of Fame, Heavyweights and More

Published

6 hours ago

April 4, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-320-Women's-Hall-of-Fame-Heavyweights-and-More

Many of the best female fighters of all time including Christy Martin, Laila Ali and others are gathering in the glitzy lights of Las Vegas this week.

Several hundred fans including current and former world champions are attending the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, April 4 and 5^th at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas.

It’s one of my favorite events.

Where else can you talk to the female pioneers and stars of the 1980s and 1990s?

The last time I attended two years ago, Germany’s super star Regina Halmich spoke to the packed house about her career in boxing. She and Daisy Lang were two female world champions who sold out arenas wherever they fought. The pair of blonde fighters proved that female prizefighting could succeed.

Many times, I debated with promoters who believed women’s boxing could not succeed in the USA. Though it was popular in Germany and Mexico, various organizers felt female boxing was not appealing to the American masses.

Now promoters and media networks know women’s boxing and women’s sports have crowd appeal.

Expected to attend the IWBHOF event at Orleans will be Mexico’s Jessica Chavez and Jackie Nava who will be inducted into the women’s hall of fame along with Vaia Zaganas of Canada among many others.

It’s also a gathering place for many of the top proponents of women’s boxing including the organizers of this event such as Sue Fox whose idea spawned the IWBHOF.

Each event is unique and special.

Many of my favorite people in boxing attend this celebration of women’s boxing. Stop by the Orleans Casino on the second floor. You won’t be disappointed.

Heavyweight prospects

Heavyweights take the forefront this weekend in two pivotal battles in different continents.

In England, a pair of contenders looking to maintain their footing in the heavyweight mountain will clash as Joe Joyce (16-3, 15 KOs) meets Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KOs) at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester. DAZN will stream the event.

Both lost their last match and need a win to remain relevant. Joyce has lost his three of his last four, most recently coming up short in a riveting slugfest with Derek Chisora.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Nevada, two young heavyweights looking to crack contender status clash as undefeated Richard Torrez (12-0,11 KOs) fights Italy’s Guido Vianello (13-2-1,11 KOs) at the Palms Casino.

Both are Olympians who can crack and each can take a blow.

The winner moves up into contention and the other will need to scrape and claw back into relevance.

Coming up

April 12 in Atlantic City: Jarron Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) vs Eimantis Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs) IBF welterweight title.

April 12 Albuquerque: Fernando Vargas Jr. (16-0) vs Gonzalo Gaston (23-7); Shane Mosley Jr. (22-4) vs DeAundre Pettus (12-4).

April 19 Oceanside, Calif: Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs). Also, Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs Jorge Garcia (32-4, 26 KOs).

April 26 Tottenham Stadium, London, England; Conor Benn (23-0) vs Chris Eubank Jr. (34-3); Aaron McKenna (19-0, 10 KOs) vs Liam Smith (33-4, 20 Kos).

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Joe Joyce (16-3) vs Filip Hrgovic (17-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 2:30 p.m. Richard Torrez (12-0) vs Guido Vianello (13-2-1).

Sat. AMAZON PRIME VIDEO 8:00 8 p.m. Tim Tszyu (24-2) vs. Joey Spencer (19-1)

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History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

Published

2 days ago

April 2, 2025

Arne K. Lang

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

This reporter was rummaging around the internet last week when he stumbled on a story in the May 1950 issue of Ebony under the byline of Mike Jacobs. Boxing was then in the doldrums (isn’t it always?) and Jacobs, the most powerful promoter in boxing during the era of Joe Louis, was lassoed by the editors of the magazine to address the question of whether the over-representation of black boxers was killing the sport at the box office.

This hoary premise had been kicking around even before the heyday of Jack Johnson, bubbling forth whenever an important black-on-black fight played to a sea of empty seats as had happened the previous year when Chicago’s Comiskey Park hosted the world heavyweight title fight between Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott.

Jacobs ridiculed the hypothesis – as one could have expected considering the publication in which the story ran – and singled out three “colored” boxers as the best of the current crop of active pugilists: Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams, and Freddie Dawson.

Sugar Ray Robinson? A no-brainer. Skill-wise the greatest of the great. Even those that didn’t follow boxing, would have recognized his name. Ike Williams? Nowhere near as well-known as Robinson, but he was then the reigning lightweight champion, a man destined to go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990.

And Freddie Dawson? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, dear reader, you are not alone. I confess that I too drew a blank. And that triggered a search to learn more about him.

Freddie Dawson had four fights with Ike Williams. All four were staged on Ike’s turf in Philadelphia. Were this not the case, the history books would likely show the series knotted 2-2. Late in his career, Dawson became greatly admired in Australia. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves.

Dawson was born in 1924 in Thomasville, Arkansas, an unincorporated town in the Arkansas Delta. Likely a descendent of slaves who worked in the cotton plantations, he grew up in the so-called Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the heart of Chicago’s Black Belt.

The first mention of him in the newspapers came in 1941 when he won Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) featherweight title. In those days, amateur boxing was big in the Windy City, the birthplace of the Golden Gloves. The Catholic Archdiocese, which ran gyms in every parish, and the Chicago Parks Department, were the major incubators.

In his amateur days, he was known as simply Fred Dawson. As a pro, his name often appeared as Freddy Dawson, although Freddie gradually became the more common spelling.

Dawson, who stood five-foot-six and was often described as stocky, made his pro debut on Feb. 1, 1943, at Marigold Gardens. Before the year was out, he had 16 fights under his belt, all in Chicago and all but two at Marigold. (Currently the site of an interdenominational Christian church, Marigold Gardens, on the city’s north side, was Chicago’s most active boxing and wrestling arena from the mid-1930s through the early-1950s. Joe Louis had three of his early fights there and Tony Zale was a fixture there as he climbed the ladder to the world middleweight title.)

The last of these 16 fights was fatal for Dawson’s opponent who collapsed heading back to his corner after the fight was stopped in the 10^th round and died that night at a local hospital from the effects of a brain injury.

Dawson left town after this incident and spent most of the next year in New Orleans where energetic promoter Louis Messina ran twice-weekly shows (Mondays for whites and Fridays for blacks) at the Coliseum, a major stop on boxing’s so-called Chitlin’ Circuit.

That same year, on Sept. 19, 1944, Dawson had his first encounter with Ike Williams. He was winning the fight when Ike knocked him out with a body punch in the fourth round.

The first and last meetings between Dawson and Ike Williams were spaced five years apart. In the interim, Freddie scored his two best wins, stopping Vic Patrick in the twelfth round at Sydney, NSW, and Bernard Docusen in the sixth round in Chicago.

The long-reigning lightweight champion of Australia, Patrick (49-3, 43 KOs) gave the crowd a thrill when he knocked Dawson down for a count of “six” in the penultimate 11^th round, but Dawson returned the favor twice in the final stanza, ending the contest with a punch so harsh that the poor Aussie needed five minutes before he was fit to leave the ring and would spend the night in the hospital as a precaution.

Dawson fought Bernard Docusen before 10,000-plus at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 4, 1949. An 8/5 favorite, Docusen lacked a hard punch, but the New Orleans cutie had suffered only three losses in 66 fights, had never been stopped, and had extended Sugar Ray Robinson the 15-round distance the previous year.

Dawson dismantled him. Docusen managed to get back on his feet after Dawson knocked him down in the sixth, but he was in no condition to continue and the referee waived the fight off. Dawson was then vacillating between the lightweight and welterweight divisions and reporters wondered whether it would be Robinson or Ike Williams when Dawson finally got his well-earned title shot.

Sugar Ray wasn’t in his future. Here are the results of his other matches with Ike Williams:

Dawson-Williams II (Jan. 28, 1946) – The consensus on press row was 7-2-1 or 7-3 for Dawson, but the match was ruled a draw. “[The judges and referee] evidently saw [Williams] land punches that nobody else did,” said the ringside reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dawson-Williams III (Jan. 26, 1948) – Dawson lost a majority decision. The scores were 6-4, 5-4-1, and 4-4-2. The decision was booed. Ike Williams then held the lightweight title, but this was a non-title fight. (It was tough for an outsider to get a fair shake in Philadelphia, home to Ike Williams’ co-manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo who would go to prison for his duplicitous dealings as a fight facilitator.)

Dawson-Williams IV (Dec. 5, 1949) – This would be Freddie Dawson’s only crack at a world title and he came up short. Ike Williams retained the belt, winning a unanimous decision. The fight was close – 8-7, 8-7, 9-6 – but there was no controversy.

Dawson made three more trips to Australia before his career was finished. On the first of these trips, he knocked out Jack Hassen, successor to Vic Patrick as the lightweight champion of Australia. A 1953 article in the Sydney Sunday Herald bore witness to the esteem in which Dawson was held by boxing fans in Australia: “None of our boxers could withstand his devastating attacks which not only knocked them out but also knocked years off their careers,” said the author. “It is doubtful whether any Australian boxer in any division could have beaten Dawson.”

Dawson had his final fights in the Land Down Under, finishing his career with a record of 103-14-4 while answering the bell for 962 rounds. Following what became his final fight, he had an eye operation in Sydney that was reportedly so intricate that it required a two-week hospital stay. He injured the eye again in Manila while sparring in preparation for a match with the welterweight champion of the Philippines, a match that had to be aborted because of the injury. Dawson then disappeared, by which we mean that he disappeared from the pages of the newspaper archives that allow us to construct these kinds of stories.

What about Freddie Dawson the man? A 1944 story about him said he was an outstanding all-around athlete, “a champion in all athletic undertakings – basketball, baseball, track and even jitterbugging.” A story in a Sydney paper as he was preparing to meet Vic Patrick informs us that he had two young children, ages 2 and 1, owned his own home in Chicago, and drove a two-year-old Cadillac. But beyond these flimsy snippets, Dawson the man remains elusive.

What we learned, however, is that he was one of the most underrated boxers to come down the pike in any era, a borderline Hall of Famer who ought not have fallen through the cracks. Inside the ring, this guy was one tough hombre.

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Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

Published

6 days ago

March 30, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Ringside-at-the-Fontainebleau-where-Mikaela-Mayer-won-her-Rematch-with-Sandy-Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.

The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.

Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.

Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.

Co-Feature

In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.

The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.

A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.

Other Bouts

In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.

Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.

Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.

Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.

Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.

Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.

Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.

Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.

There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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