By Ian S Palmer
Former world champions Danny Garcia of Philadelphia and Shawn Porter of Akron, Ohio will be battling it out this Saturday, September 8th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The 12-round welterweight bout is for the vacant WBC Welterweight Title and can be seen live in the U.S. On Showtime while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on BoxNation. Garcia’s last ring outing took place in February when he stopped Brandon Rios in the ninth round while Porter’s last outing was a 12-round unanimous decision over Adrian Granados last November for the WBC Silver Welterweight crown.
The 30-year-old Garcia is a former WBC and WBA Junior Welterweight Champion and won the vacant WBC Welterweight Title in January of 2016 with a unanimous decision over Robert Guerrero. However he lost that title to Keith Thurman by split decision in March, 2017. He enters this fight with a record of 34-1 and has 20 Kos to his name. He has power in both hands, but it hasn’t really been evident lately since he has just four knockouts in his past 10 bouts since 2013.
After going 107-13 as an amateur, Garcia turned pro in 2007 and has fought 227 rounds. He’s faced some top-quality opposition over the years such as Thurman, Guerrero, Paulie Malignaggi, Amir Khan, Zab Judah, Mauricio Herrera, Lucas Matthysse, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell, and Erik Morales twice. Garcia isn’t really a standout boxer, but he’s solid in all areas of the sport with good power, speed, defence, ring generalship and chin, and that’s why he’s been beaten just once as a pro.
Garcia stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall and has a reach of 68.5 inches. His current knockout ratio stands at 57 per cent and he doesn’t usually go looking for knockouts as he’s actually quite patient. He’s had some problems in the past with skilled boxers, such as Herrera and Judah and had to work hard against them since he was forced to go after them. He prefers opponents who are right in front of him as he can eventually wear them down with his jab and excellent left hook.
The 30-year-old Porter is 28-2-1 with 17 Kos and is is a former IBF Welterweight Champion. Like Garcia, he also enjoyed an excellent amateur career. He lost his title via a close majority decision to Kell Brook of England in August of 2014 with his other defeat being a unanimous decision to WBA Champ Keith Thurman in June, 2016. His draw was a 10-round affair against Julio Diaz in 2012. Porter’s a blue-collar boxer with a lot of energy to burn, but isn’t known as a big knockout puncher.
He’s scored his fair share of stoppages though and his current knockout ratio stands at 55 per cent. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 69.5-inch wingspan. He’s an inch shorter than Garcia, but has an inch edge in reach. Porter turned pro in 2008 and has 195 rounds under his belt since then. His best victories have been against Andre Berto, Adrien Broner, Julio Diaz in a rematch, Paulie Malignaggi, Devon Alexander, Phil Lo Greco and Alfonso Gomez. Porter seems to have a pretty good chin, but Broner did manage to drop him in last round in June of 2015.
Prediction…
This is a great matchup and should be an exciting fight. Porter’s key to winning is to throw a high volume of punches every round and make Garcia back up by swarming him. He’s going to have to be wary of counter shots though as well as Garcia’s fine left hook. Porter is naturally more aggressive and if he stays true to his usual style and tactics I think he can do just enough to pull this out.
