Both men are undefeated. Both men are in their prime. They are skilled and have heavy hands and are fighting to unify the 147-pound titles?
All fights matter, but some fights matter more than others.
On Saturday, March 4, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in a fight televised live on CBS, WBA welterweight champion Keith ?One Time? Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs), the ninja from Clearwater, Florida, meets WBC welterweight champion Danny ?Swift? Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs), the Fighting Pride of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Both men are undefeated. Both men are in their prime. They are skilled and have heavy hands and are fighting to unify the 147-pound titles.
Thurman is unusually articulate, not just for a boxer, but among humans in general. He?s not the first fighter with a lot to say. Others before him talked the talk. What makes Thurman different is the substance of what he says and the way in which he says it.
?I just didn?t want to have a stay busy fight,? he said on a recent teleconference call. ?I just wanted to have a fight that I wanted and it?s the fight that we?re getting. So if I had to wait for it, I wait for it. When fighters are staying busy, they put themselves on a certain fight schedule and then sometimes it?s hard to make the big fights happen, because this fighter is in a training camp and he?s getting ready for a fight and then the other guy starts his training camp to fight somebody else and I just wanted a fight that I want. I?m not complaining about my career. I?m not complaining about my exposure or my celebrity status. I?m not really in boxing to be a super celebrity, even though there is superstardom in the sport of boxing. I?m living the dream that I?ve always wanted to live and I?m proud of it.
?This is the fight I wanted. I believe this is the fight the fight fans deserved.?
Often when fighters talk about the fans, it sounds as if they?re pandering. But Thurman is sincere, both in what he says and how he fights.
?Boxing is all about is making history,? he said. ?My ultimate goal is to not just make a living for myself, not just live my American dream and accomplish my goals as an athlete, but my ultimate goal has been, ever since I was a child, is to make history in the sport of boxing so that when I?m done boxing, people get to remember who Keith ?One Time? Thurman really was, what he brought to the welterweight division and hopefully, arguably, when people start talking about their favorite fighters and the greatest fighters of all time that there will be somebody standing in a circle who said ?I really love that boy, Keith ?One Time? Thurman.? For me, that?s what it?s all about.?
Garcia is not as deep as Thurman and correspondingly has not thought as deeply. He is more fundamental, both in his language and skills, which is not necessarily a bad thing. And while he has his doubters, primarily for being the beneficiary of some questionable decisions, Garcia is a fighter through and through and is determined to prove the naysayers wrong.
?The critics will be the critics,? he said. ?They don?t know what I can do. I?ve been here before. It?s not new to me. My job is not really to worry about the media and people underrating me. But at the end of the day, I know what I can do and I?m a great champion, I?m a true champion and I?ve been in the big fights before. I?ve been in unification fights before. I feel I?m the better fighter. I always rise to the occasion. At the end of the day, Danny Garcia, he comes to fight and he comes to win.?
Thurman is no less confident.
?I?m an undefeated champion and I?ve never lost. I feel strong. I have a strong amateur background. He does, too. This is my life. This is what I do. I love the challenge. I love the fight game. I love another man trying to get the best of me right in front of me, going toe-to-toe with me. I just live for it.
?I?ll never back down. I?m bigger than Danny naturally. He was always smaller than me in the amateurs. He?s smaller than me in the pros. He?s moving up. He might hold his weight well but I?m just a little bit bigger. So that gives me some confidence there.
?We both have great records, great r?sum?s, lots of knockouts, but I have less fights, more knockouts. I believe that I do punch harder and that I?ll just edge him out statistically a little bit and it?s just going to come down to the fight who lands the right punches at the right time.
?Nowadays, win, lose or draw, I?ll always be a champion. I?m not worried about nothing.?
There is some bad blood going into the fight, mostly from Angel Garcia, Danny?s volatile father/trainer. But the fighters respect what the other brings to the table.
?This is a kid that I?ve known since we were kids,? said Thurman. ?If anything, I?m proud of everything I?ve accomplished. I?m proud of everything he?s accomplished. He?s lived the life that I?ve lived in a different state in a different scenario. But we?re like two pit bulls. We were bred for this at a young age. We?re not new fighters. We didn?t pick up boxing yesterday. This isn?t new to us. This is the career that we chose while we were growing up. When people were trying to figure out what they want to be, we knew what we wanted to be. We knew we wanted to be fighters and this is what we wanted to do.?
When Garcia was asked if this was personal, he said, ?At the end of the day, it?s a business. It?s always personal when you?re going in and you?re going to fight with somebody. We?re not going in there to hug and to dance. It?s a fight. So it?s always personal to a certain level. I?ve been in the ring with a lot of great fighters. And come March 4th, I?m just fighting another name in the sport of boxing and that?s basically it. I?m ready for everything. I?m one of the best fighters in the world.?
Thurman wanted the last word?and he deserves it.
?This is just going to be a competitive fight between Keith ?One Time? Thurman and Danny ?Swift? Garcia, man. It?s going to be a terrific fight. Danny is very composed. Danny does always find a way to win. We?ve known each other for many years. We?ve never gotten to mix it up. Everything is on the line. We?re going to challenge each other and one man is going to get the best of the other man. The time is now. End of story.?
