Danny Garcia might be incredibly proud of how his career has played out but the former two-division world champion looks back on his time in the welterweight division with a bit of regret. In three of his biggest showdowns at 147 pounds against Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, and Errol Spence Jr., the Philadelphia native came up short, losing competitive decisions to all three.
Although he admits that he still has a bit of unfinished business, the now 34-year-old sought greener pastures one division higher. In his debut as a full-fledged junior middleweight, Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) made it look unfathomably easy against Jose Benavidez Jr., boxing his way to a wide unanimous decision victory during their July showdown.
Thanks to his win, Garcia now finds himself ranked in the top 10 in two of the four major sanctioning bodies. But while the 154-pound contender could continue to position himself for an undisputed crack against Jermell Charlo, he’s floated around the idea of moving up in weight to take on WBA middleweight “Regular” champion, Erislandy Lara.
With the Cuban star openly willing to meet Garcia at a catchweight, the former two-divisional star recently doubled down on his desire to face his bigger counterpart.
“That’s what we want,” said Garcia to YSM Sports Media. “That’s what we want. I want to fight Lara for the middleweight title at 155.”
After wreaking havoc on the junior middleweight division for the better part of the past decade, Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) believed that bigger fights and even bigger paydays awaited him six pounds north. Thus far, Lara hasn’t exactly lured the elite of the middleweight division into the ring but he did capture the WBA’s secondary trinket following his first-round destruction of Thomas LaManna.
Garcia though, isn’t concerned with what Lara brings to the table. Although the Philadelphia slugger is unbelievably pleased with what he’s accomplished, Garcia acknowledges that he’s attempting to close an indelible hole in his pugilistic resume before he hangs up his gloves for good.
“I’m trying to be a three-division world champion before it’s all said and done. I’m going right for it.”