It feels like yesterday, but it was 12 years ago when Danny Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) officially splashed onto the boxing scene by defeating Mexican legend Erik Morales (52-9, 36 KOs) to capture the WBC super lightweight title. Garcia, from Philadelphia, PA, was just 24 years old and likely didn’t know that moment would change his life forever. After years of success, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) lost its distributor in Showtime due to a corporate merger at the end of 2023. That left Garcia with one fight in four years, and now he looks to defy the odds on September 14 and win a world title after being absent from the ring since 2022.
In July 2022, Garcia earned a majority decision over Jose Benavidez in Brooklyn, NY, but the most powerful moment of the night came during the in-ring post-fight interview. Garcia broke down and revealed his struggles with mental health. He wanted to take that opportunity to address mental health as so many people live with mental illness every day, buried inside, and are afraid that talking about it could lead to stigma and mockery. Garcia’s bravery in sharing his experience is just another reason why he is loved by many within Philadelphia, boxing, and the Latin community.
Garcia knows the love from his fans is the purest form of emotion as the ones who show it are the ones who follow the sport the closest. “It’s a blessing,” said Garcia. “My fans are hardcore boxing fans. All I did was bless them with championship fights for the last 12 years. I gave them all I had, and it’s like a drug; they can’t get enough of it (laughs).”
Shortly after the Benavidez fight, rumors about a matchup with WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (30-3-3, 18 KOs) began to circulate. It was one rumored date after another, with the last being in Atlantic City last summer. While these plans seemed to stall, Garcia kept himself busy outside of the ring, focusing on business ventures and growing his family. He smiled as he talked about his time away from the ring, saying “I had two more kids (laughs),” and added, “There is nothing better than that. So I had the two kids, started my own boxing promotion, and was always looking for new business ventures, meeting new people, and traveling the world. I definitely stayed busy while waiting for my time to fight again.”
Although it seemed to fight fans that the Lara fight was never going to happen, Garcia held on to hope that it would, but deep down inside he had an expiration date for the fight and one that could have led to the end of his career. “I actually felt like if I didn’t fight this year, maybe I wasn’t going to fight anymore (retire) because I didn’t want to come off more than two years to fight. That was my mindset. I still had the fight in me [during that time], but I didn’t want to keep waiting.”
This summer, it was announced that Garcia would finally face Lara on one of the biggest cards of the year, headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga on September 14 in Las Vegas, NV. It’s the opportunity he has been waiting for, and although he had thoughts of potentially never lacing up the gloves again, he is glad this fight was made and is 100 percent committed to preparing for the best version of himself. Although he is no longer that 24-year-old fighter who beat a legend to win his first world title, Garcia (now 36) fully understands that taking a different approach is necessary to be as healthy as possible on fight night.
“You definitely have to ease your way into it. I would say recovery takes longer. Before, I used to work out hard, spar ten rounds, and the next day, I felt I could do another ten [rounds]. Now I have to take my ice baths, do stretches, eat the right food, and make sure I’m recovering because that’s the most important thing. Everything else is still the same: the skills, speed, and power.”
On September 14, Garcia looks to become a three-division champion, but more importantly, he wants to once again give the fans what he feels occurs at every one of his fights: a show. “I just want to give it my all and make sure I don’t have any regrets. I want to win the middleweight championship but, most importantly, come out healthy and that I gave the fans a great fight.”
With his thoughts at one point on retirement, now that he has this world title opportunity—which could be his last, win, lose, or draw—will we see Garcia fighting again? “I would say every fight is my last fight,” said Garcia. “That’s how I’m looking at it right now. That is what motivates me; you can’t look at tomorrow because tomorrow is not promised. I’m just taking it one day and fight at a time.”
Discover more from Fights Around The World
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
