Danny Garcia feeling confident at welterweight for Paulie Malignaggi fight
— -- Junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia believes the few extra pounds on his lean frame will make a big difference as he moves up to welterweight.
"Everything is better at 147 [pounds]," he said. "I feel stronger. My form feels good. The footwork is great. I can eat regularly now. Still disciplined, but it's a lot easier."
Since turning pro as a 19-year-old in 2007, Garcia has campaigned as a junior welterweight. For the most part, making 140 pounds was not much of a chore.
But as he got older -- he's 27 now -- it became increasingly difficult, and that showed in his recent performances. The fighter who scored eye-catching knockouts of Amir Khan and Erik Morales (with one of the most awesome left hooks seen in recent years) and an unheard-of knockdown of feared punching machine Lucas Matthysse was suddenly was struggling.
Garcia was lucky to receive a majority decision against Mauricio Herrera 17 months ago in a fight most thought he lost. That match turned out to be his final title defense before fighting two non-title bouts in a row slightly over the 140-pound limit. The first was the big mismatch against Rod Salka, ending in an expected blistering knockout in the second round. The second, at 143 pounds, was a tight majority decision that could have gone either way against fellow titleholder Lamont Peterson on April 11.
After that bout came the announcement virtually everyone expected: Garcia was making the move up to welterweight, leaving behind the junior welterweight division and a fine championship reign in which he unified two major titles, earned the lineal championship and defeated the likes of former world titleholders Zab Judah, Kendall Holt and Nate Campbell.
Garcia, who has his eye on another world title, this time at 147 pounds, gets down to business in his weight class when he takes on former junior welterweight and welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi in a scheduled 12-round bout on a Premier Boxing Champions card Saturday night (ESPN, 9 ET) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Malignaggi's hometown.
"I accomplished a lot at 140 pounds, and I'm going to do a lot at 147," Garcia said. "On Saturday at Barclays Center, you're going to see a spectacular Danny Garcia."
Malignaggi, the big underdog, is coming off a knockout loss and a 16-month layoff. He said he knows the significance of the bout for his career.
"I think it's more must-win for me as far as my own boxing career is concerned," Malignaggi said. "I think there's no question. For the life of my professional boxing career to continue, I feel like this is a must-win for sure. I don't think that there's much of a must-win for Danny as it is for me."
In the co-feature, secondary middleweight titleholder Daniel Jacobs (29-1, 26 KOs), 28, of Brooklyn, will make his second defense of his belt when he faces former junior middleweight titlist Sergio Mora (28-3-2, 9 KOs), 34, of East Los Angeles.
Garcia's move up in weight has been a long time coming.
"I believe right after the Matthysse fight I wanted to move up. I felt like that was a perfect time for me to move up because I beat the best 140-pounder at that time," Garcia said. "I had beat Khan and then I came back and beat Morales and Matthysse. I beat two of the best 140-pounders, so I feel like it's time for me to go up to 147.
"But they had different plans for me. Me and my team, we decided to stay at 140 for a little longer to see how it played out. I just wasn't fully strong at the weight class anymore. I just wasn't fully strong anymore. So I felt like it's time for me to go up to 147."
Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) -- who's from Philadelphia but fighting at the Barclays Center for the fifth time and for the third fight in a row -- said his moving up in weight made this training camp the first one in a long time where the focus with his trainer and father, the outspoken and outlandish Angel Garcia, was more on boxing and improving his skills than on training to cut weight.
"I'm able to work on things now later in camp. Before I would just be coming in to lose weight," he said. "Now I've had great nutrition throughout camp. My legs are there and I'm faster. It's all going to fall into place on [Saturday]. I couldn't cut the ring off the way I wanted to at 140. Now I have more agility and I can really corner people, use the jab and control the fight.
"My weight is great. I've been really disciplined with what I eat. I'm staying sharp and building muscle. I believe I could have been a welterweight two years ago."
Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs), 34, left the junior welterweight division for welterweight in 2010 following a knockout loss to Khan. He is 6-2 in the division and is considered to have little chance against the younger, stronger, fresher Garcia. Malignaggi is coming off a 16-month layoff, during which he toyed with retirement, following a massively one-sided fourth-round knockout loss suffered while challenging then-welterweight titleholder Shawn Porter in April 2014.
Malignaggi, who has a successful broadcasting career, eventually decided to continue fighting.
"You get to the point when you're not in the ring for a while. It's going through my mind that maybe I don't want to fight. But as time went by and I started working out again, I started realizing that it was something I missed," Malignaggi said. "It was something I was still craving. I wanted to be back in there."
His return was scheduled against Danny O'Connor on May 29 at the Barclays Center on the Khan-Chris Algieri undercard. But Malignaggi suffered a cut the week before the bout and the fight was canceled. Then the fight with Garcia fell in his lap.
"It's been an emotional camp. I find myself thrust back into the limelight of a major fight when it was least expected," Malignaggi said. "The question marks and doubts come up in my mind, and that's made it emotional. I work hard every day. I've quietly had one of my best training camps.
"There are no excuses here. Saturday night is the best of Paulie Malignaggi. I look forward to testing myself against the best Danny Garcia. I've always loved and relish the big names and the big opportunities.
"My best versus his best. This is a big opportunity for me, professionally and personally. My career started 14 years ago in Brooklyn and people think it's going to end Saturday in Brooklyn, but I'm not letting that happen."
He and Garcia have been friendly for years and been very respectful toward each other leading up to the fight. But they will set that aside on Saturday.
Malignaggi will look for the upset and chance to extend his career in meaningful way, while the fight is a chance for Garcia to crash the welterweight division by beating a veteran.
"I don't think Danny is overlooking me, but I feel that the fans and the media are. I love challenges and I love things that motivate me," Malignaggi said. "I wake up in the morning saying, 'This is hard,' but I know I can do it. The bigger the challenge, the more excited I am. It brings the best out of me. I have fought some of the greatest fighters of our time. There's no reason I would stop now.
"Fighting at home at Barclays Center against Danny Garcia, one of the biggest fights in boxing, I couldn't ask for more."
Said Garcia, "I've watched Paulie fight my whole career. He's a tough veteran and I'm sure he's got some tricks up his sleeve. I just have to go in there and stick to business on Saturday night.
"I'm going to be ready. I'm working hard. I'm training hard. I can't wait to get in there, showcase my skills, and [get] in the weight class.
"I feel like at 147, you're going to see a more athletic Danny Garcia. And I think I'm going to be a champion at 147, too. I know so."
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