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Danny Garcia felt no need to tinker with a winning formula.
When the Philadelphia native initially turned pro in 2007, his first five opponents failed to hold up to his pernicious power. As he continued to have success at 140-pounds, Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) rose his arms in triumph as fighters such as Erik Morales and Amir Khan were left motionless on the canvas.
With both the WBA and WBC super lightweight titles tucked safely underneath his arm, Garcia attempted to use his brute strength to power his way through his welterweight foes. Having won a 147-pound title in 2016, Garcia will now look to snag another golden trinket in the junior middleweight division.
In his 154-pound debut, the 34-year-old shied away from his normal stand-and-bang approach in his showdown against Jose Benavidez Jr. Instead, Garcia opted to box and move. While he’s mostly built his career on scoring eye-popping knockouts, Garcia seemingly has no issue with unveiling a deeper-than-expected bag of tricks.
“At 140, I was so much stronger than those guys,” said Garcia to BoxingScene.com. “I just walked right through them so I didn’t have to show my boxing skills. I’m an amateur champion. I was number one in 2006, I was an alternate in 2007. I thought I should’ve went to the Olympics. A lot of people don’t know I got a great boxing pedigree. I’m from Philly, that’s all they teach out there is to box.”
During his days in the non-paid ranks, Garcia aggregated an amateur record consisting of 107 wins against only 13 losses. Yet, as he alludes to, Garcia ditched his usual box-first approach in favor of fan-pleasing knockouts in the pros.
Ultimately, Garcia’s one-track mind failed him during his welterweight run. Officially, the former two-division world titlist registered just a handful of stoppage victories at 147-pounds.
Against the welterweight division’s more established names, Garcia came up short, suffering defeat at the hands of Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, and Shawn Porter. Looking back, the Philadelphian believes that he’s learned from the errors of his ways. Garcia also admits that his myopic line of thinking cost him in some of his bigger showdowns.
“I fell in love with my power in the pros,” continued Garcia. “I was just so much bigger than people and I was just walking them down. I think that’s what caused me a little bit at 147, just trying to knock everybody out.”
For now, Garcia will sift through the current landscape of 154 pounds in search of his next opponent. But while he’s all for a mouthwatering showdown against undisputed junior middleweight champion, Jermell Charlo, Garcia has openly confessed that he would also be interested in facing Erislandy Lara at a catchweight of 155 pounds for his WBA “Regular” middleweight title.
“I love that fight for me, I love that fight for me.”