Danny Garcia’s Continuing Boxing Quest Began as a Kid With His First Trophy

It began for Danny “Swift” Garcia, as it does for many, with the presentation of a small, inexpensive trophy. He was 11 years old then

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Published

7 years ago

September 5, 2018

Bernard Fernandez

It began for Danny “Swift” Garcia, as it does for many, with the presentation of a small, inexpensive trophy. He was 11 years old then, a kid of Puerto Rican heritage from a Philadelphia neighborhood full of them who wanted to take possession of something, anything, that would make him feel as if he might actually turn out to be someone special.

“Winning my first trophy motivated me to keep fighting,” said the three-time former world champion, now fully grown at 30 but still seeking objects, like another bejeweled belt, to validate himself as he prepared for Saturday night’s Showtime-televised confrontation with another former world champ, Shawn Porter, for the vacant WBC welterweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “I wanted more trophies. All my friends had trophies – football trophies, basketball trophies. I never had no trophies. So I was, like, `Damn, I need some trophies.’

“Then I went from one trophy to 20 trophies to 50 trophies and maybe 40 medals. I was traveling around the world. I had never even gotten on an airplane until I traveled for boxing. My first time to ever get on an airplane, I was going to Kansas City for the Silver Gloves. That alone was like a dream come true.”

It has been said that boys with toys strive to continually achieve because enough is never enough. There is a television commercial now airing for a luxury car favored by successful people who have been upgrading their rides since furiously pedaling their first bicycle. And so it is for Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) and, one might presume, Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs), another 30-year-old from Las Vegas, by way of his native Akron, Ohio, who took pride in his first childhood trophy and has been obsessively adding to his collection ever since.

Garcia and Porter are both trained by their fathers, longtime boxing guys who correctly figured that all it took was a little encouragement at the right time to make their sons become as infatuated with the sport as they were.

“It’s not about the money at that age,” Angel Garcia said last week at the DSG Gym in the Juniata Park section of Philly before putting Danny through his training paces. “It’s about that little trophy.”

But the money is a pretty strong incentive as a fighter becomes older and has the financial wherewithal to enjoy the fruits of his labors. The Garcias, now men of property, own a block of businesses in their neighborhood and are wealthier than they ever could have imagined when a beaming Danny brought home that first little trophy. Not that he’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-rich, but, as with the case with drivers of that luxury car featured in the commercial, enough is never really enough, not when a fighter still has the talent and, well, drive to keep pushing to take full advantage of his physical gifts before they inevitably begin to wane.

“My goal,” Danny told a media assembly, “is to get this belt, have another big unification fight at 147 and then I want to go up to 154 and win a title in a third weight class.”

It that continual quest for more – more money, more fame, more glory, more embellishments of a legacy still under construction – that spur Garcia onward now. He can afford to take a longer view, to a time when all the hard work will have paid off in a manner that supersedes anything that went before.

How about an appearance on the stage of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y., where a then-retired Danny Garcia will be giving an acceptance speech that will officially certify him as a boxing legend?

“That’s my ultimate goal,” he said. “I visited there once, before I fought in a Golden Gloves tournament. It would definitely be another dream come true. I think this fight puts me that much closer.”

But the road from that first little trophy to now, even with all he has gained for himself to this point, can seem like a short skip and a hop compared to the heavy lifting that still must be done on the obstacle-strewn trail from now to what passes for ring immortality. The great middleweight champion Marvin Hagler once observed that it’s difficult for a rich and accomplished fighter to get up before dawn to put in his roadwork when he goes to bed wearing silk pajamas. Garcia understands that rationale, although, as he wryly noted, “I don’t wear pajamas.”

“Some days I wake up and I say, `I want to do this,’” he said of the rigors of training. “Other days I wake up and I say, `I don’t feel like doing this.’ It all depends on how I wake up that day. But I always find a new motivation, a new goal. Whenever I feel that I no longer have the passion for it and don’t want to work hard and push myself to go in a hot gym, that’ll be when I stop.”

For Garcia – and his pop, too – fresh motivation arrived in an XXXL-sized package after Danny relinquished his WBC welterweight title on a split decision in a unification matchup with WBA champ Keith Thurman on March 4, 2017. Not only was it the first professional defeat for Garcia, it was also the first time he no longer could call himself a world champion since he won the vacant WBC super lightweight title on March 24, 2012, with a unanimous decision over Mexican standout Erik Morales – who, incidentally, was inducted into the IBHOF earlier this summer. It was as if Garcia had lost the most cherished part of his identity, or a thief in the night had entered his home and scooped up all mementos of his boxing successes, even that first little trophy.

“It was tough,” he said of his frame of mind after the loss to Thurman. “I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t affect me a little bit. But I have the mind of a winner. Waking up that day, I thought I was going to be unified champ of the world, WBC and WBA. I was real confident when it came to scorecards that I was going to win the fight because I finished strong. I pushed the fight and I thought I won by a point or two. But it didn’t go my way.”

For the always-excitable Angel, it wasn’t so much disappointment as anger. He is convinced that his son – who, truth be told, had won a couple of fights that were close enough to have conceivably gone the other way – was the victim of poor judgment or, worse, bias.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I couldn’t sleep,” he said of the restless nights for him that followed the Thurman fight. “We had lost before, in the amateurs, but it was the amateurs. You brush it off and keep it rolling. But that fight … I felt crushed. I felt betrayed by the politics of it. People don’t know the business that went on with the (New York) commission. I was messed up for months. I wanted a rematch the next day. We still want Thurman. We gotta give him an `L,’ man. And I want Danny to give him his first loss.”

Settling the score with Thurman is also objective No. 1 for the younger Garcia, but it might be an even more indeterminable wait than it already has been. Thurman has not fought since his close victory over Garcia, in which he suffered an injury to his right elbow that required surgery. When he was able to get back to the gym he sustained another injury, a deep bruise to his left hand, lengthening his layoff and prompting him to voluntarily relinquish the WBC version of his title, which the winner of the Garcia-Porter bout will claim.

Even without a do-over with Thurman to keep his competitive juices flowing, Garcia has rekindled the inner fire that began with the spark of his first little trophy. He returned to action on Feb. 17 of this year when he stopped former WBA lightweight and WBO welterweight titlist Brandon” Bam Bam” Rios in nine rounds in Las Vegas, after which Porter entered the ring and challenged him to the fight that is about to take place this weekend. If Thurman is unavailable at the moment, Porter makes a dandy substitute. To knock out an opponent who never has been stopped would be an added bonus.

“You never want to leave anything in the hands of the judges,” Garcia said. “To go in there and stop (Porter), it would definitely feel great. I’ve stopped a lot of guys for the first time in their career. So (if I do it), it wouldn’t be the first time, and it won’t be the last.”

Interestingly, the specter of Thurman – who retained his WBA welterweight championship with a close but unanimous decision over Porter on June 25, 2016 – lingers over this pairing of his onetime victims like a low-hanging cloud. Asked for his thoughts on Garcia-Porter, Thurman opined that the slightly favored Garcia has the edge in power, defense and boxing ability, but he isn’t sure that’s enough in what he terms “one of the best matchups of the year.”

“I try not to overthink it,” Thurman said. “It’s Porter by decision or Garcia only by KO. I lean toward Porter.”

Little wonder that Garcia, in or out of pajamas, has been getting up early to put in the work necessary to reclaim what was once his. There is always another trophy to be won, another chance to announce himself to the world as someone special. When the guy in the other corner feels the same way, something remarkable tends to happen.

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Bernard Fernandez

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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Published

2 days ago

May 3, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.

In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.

Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.

Semi-wind-up

In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.

A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.

The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.

Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.

Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.

Heavyweights

In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.

Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.

The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.

In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions

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