Hector Luis Garcia feels each of his last three opponents were better than Lamont Roach.
The Dominican southpaw beat two of them, former 130-pound champions Chris Colbert and Roger Gutierrez, by unanimous decision in 12-round fights in 2022 that completely changed his career. The third, Gervonta Davis, dealt Garcia his first professional defeat in his last appearance, which resulted in a ninth-round technical knockout January 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Garcia gave Roach credit for being a worthy challenger for his WBA super featherweight title, yet not the type of praise Roach feels he deserved during a virtual press conference recently.
“He’s not the toughest opponent I’ve had, not by a longshot,” Garcia said, according to his translator. “Roger Gutierrez, he’s better than him. Chris Colbert, he was way better than Lamont Roach, who has earned his opportunity. I don’t take that away from him. He’s earned the opportunity to be here, where he is, and have a shot at the title. But Gutierrez, Colbert and, you know, we don’t even need to say that Gervonta Davis was also better than him. So, I don’t consider him my toughest opponent at all.”
Garcia, 32, and Roach, 28, will fight for Garcia’s belt in the opener of Showtime Pay-Per-View’s four-fight telecast Saturday night in Las Vegas (8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PT; $74.99). The 12-round bout between the Dominican Republic’s Garcia (16-1, 10 KOs, 3 NC) and Roach (23-1-1, 9 KOs), of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, will be the first of three undercard bouts before Phoenix’s David Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) defends his WBC interim super middleweight title against Demetrius Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs), a two-weight world champion from Providence, Rhode Island, in the 12-round main event at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
The left-handed Garcia has moved back down to the 130-pound division after losing to Davis in a 12-round fight for the powerful southpaw’s WBA secondary 135-pound crown 10 months ago.
In the bout before Davis defeated him, Garcia outboxed Gutierrez (27-5-1, 21 KOs) to take the WBA 130-pound crown from the Venezuelan veteran in August 2022 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Garcia beat Gutierrez by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111.
A then-unbeaten Colbert (17-1, 6 KOs) was a 22-1 favorite to beat Garcia in February 2022, but Garcia dropped the Brooklyn native during the seventh round and beat Colbert by wide distances on all three scorecards at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (119-108, 118-109, 118-109).
An incredulous Roach couldn’t believe Garcia said Gutierrez is better than him.
“There won’t be any excuses because my skill level is crazy,” Roach said. “I ain’t gonna lie. Crazy, so for him to say – to go back, for him to say that Roger is a better fighter than me is very disrespectful to my skill set. And he gonna see. I hope that he don’t train like he think Roger is better than me. I promise you.”
Roach has won four fights in a row, two by knockout and two on points, since he lost a unanimous decision to Jamel Herring (24-4, 12 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Herring’s WBO junior lightweight title in November 2019 at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California. Garcia is still almost a 4-1 favorite to beat him, according to FanDuel sportsbook.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.