Thurman V Garcia [Vol.I]: Daddy’s Boyz Daddy

“Daddy’s Boy” brought his dad to the Barclays Center and unleashed what looked like an angry bastard.

WBA welterweight champion Keith “One-Time” Thurman (27-0, 22KOs) and WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (33-0, 19KOs) presented themselves for Wednesday’s presser to formally announce their scrap on CBS in prime-time. They don’t like each other, as beef primarily started by Thurman was bound to boil over.

Boy did it ever. Thurman-Garcia will air live on CBS at 9 p.m. ET, on Showtime, March 4.

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In July 2015 in Tampa, I caught up with Thurman at the USF Sundome, just days ahead of his bout with Luis Collazo. I asked about Danny Garcia.
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“Danny Garcia is no welterweight.. He’s a big lightweight gassed off big wins over has beens, wannabes or never will be’s. His daddy got him acting like Superman. If he faces me I’m Aquaman, I’ll drown him.”
—Keith Thurman

A near tragic car accident and a do-or-die war with Shawn Porter later; Thurman spoke about putting Garcia in ‘timeout’ with violence before taking a seat at the podium last June. From the back of the press room, I asked Thurman who he wanted to fight next.

After stating he ‘wants Danny “Swift” Garcia’, Thurman then offered up the famous line, “If you a Daddy’s Boy come see me boy!”obvious digs at the fathers of Shawn Porter and Robert Guerrero while implying he’ll do worse to Angel (than them).

So as Thurman opened remarks at the podium on Wednesday with how he’s going to KO his son– the father/trainer was beyond ready to erupt.

A complete believer in the 1st Amendment and never known to be quiet about anything, Angel went “Nigzilla” on One-Time verbally, dumping months of disdain for Thurman. In the process, he absolutely scared the shit out of some event organizers and media.

He was essentially a Scarface version of Philadelphia trainer Mickey from Rocky– threatening to threaten the dude he’s prepping his son to kill. It was dirty brilliance and fantabulous marketing. Boxing hinges on the pulse of urban streets connected to the same social media outlets.

If CBS (and affiliate Showtime) hopes to get about 8 million viewers to watch on a Saturday night– the fire and theater of the opening press conference was a hit.

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Thurman V Garcia: A Quick Analysis

Danny Garcia v Keith Thurman is sort of like Danny Garcia versus a tougher, more mobile Amir Khan II. Neither Khan nor Thurman like to come forward behind a jab with physicality– like Lamont Peterson did to trouble “Swift”. Thurman is not this type of fighter. And like Khan,  relies on athleticism, is not economical with punches and goes into mental voids. A punch that worked really well for both Collazo and Porter was the left hook, Garcia’s favorite and most dangerous punch.