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Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City – Jose Benavidez was satisfied with his performance against former two-division world champion Danny “Swift Garcia.
Garcia, a former world champion at junior welterweight and welterweight, was making his debut at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds.
Philadelphia’s Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) was returning for the first time since his December 2020 decision loss to unified welterweight world champion Errol Spence, while Benavidez (27-2-1, 18 KOs) was trying to bounce back from a lackluster draw against Francisco Torres from last year – which was Benavidez’s first bout in three years.
Garcia landed a career high number of shots to the body. He used movement and activity to outhustle Benavidez in several of the rounds.
Benavidez felt that he did enough to win the bout. Most observers saw Garcia as the rightful winner by a comfortable margin.
One of the three official judges saw the contest as a draw, with a tally of 114-114. And the other two judges saw Garcia as the winner with scores of 116-112 and 117-111.
“I’m happy with my performance,” said Benavidez. “I feel like I did good. I’m fighting in his backyard, one of the best, I took his punches like they were nothing. I thought I won the fight. But it is what it is, a loss makes you stronger.
“It’s tough, things don’t always go your way, there are ups and downs. I try to be positive, like when the doctor said I would never walk again. I didn’t let that get to me. I kept on going.”