Saturday night sees the debut of Danny Garcia at welterweight, when he fights Paulie Malignaggi on the PBC on ESPN card from the Barclays Centre, Brooklyn, NY.
Garcia has come under fire from some quarters for his victories over both Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson either side of last year’s awful Rod Salka mismatch, with some fans on social media renaming the Philly fighter Danny “Gift” Garcia in lieu of him controversially getting the nod on those occasions.
Ahead of Saturday’s fight with Malignaggi, Garcia has spoken to ESPN.com to say he is feeling stronger at the weight and has no concerns regarding his 34 year old opponent, who is boxing for the first time since being destroyed in 4 rounds by Shawn Porter 15 months ago.
“I’m not really worried about him (Malignaggi). I have trained hard and am 110 percent focused. Whatever he brings to the table — no matter what age he is — I will come out victorious,” said Garcia
“I’m feeling like I’m going to see a classic Paulie Malignaggi. He’s going to go in there and use his jab, box and throw a lot of straight punches. We are prepared for whatever. I feel a lot stronger and I feel I’m ready to [apply] pressure. I’m going to go in there and people are going to see a much sharper Danny Garcia”
Yet the Philadelphia man remains insistent that the criticism he has received as a cherry picker hasn’t affected him, and he simply laughs it off, insisting that the quality of his recent opposition, Salka aside, has been more than stellar;
“I laugh at it (criticism) all of the time. I laugh at it all the time because at the end of the day, eight of my last 10 opponents are current or former world champions.
“Name a young fighter in the game who has fought eight of their last 10 fights against former or current world champions and won? I can’t name one. Or one who is 27 years old like me?
“This is my first fight at 147 and I have to get this victory and go on to bigger and better things in my career.”
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
