Danny Garcia took eight months off.
He?s a boxer, not a bicycle rider. When you get back on, sometimes you forget.
?That first day of training, I said, ?This feels good,??? Garcia said.
?Then I said, ?Damn, this is hard.???
Garcia has fought only twice since Jan. 23, 2016. He will meet Brandon Rios at Mandalay Bay on Saturday night.
And you wonder why boxers need to be led into the ring.
Garcia should not singled out for his long life on the shelf, which is not to be confused with shelf life. The man who took away his WBC welterweight title last March 4 is Keith ?One Time? Thurman. He hasn?t been seen since, although injuries have played a part.
Errol Spence, the IBF champ, calls Thurman ?Some Time.? Thurman, also the WBA champ, has fought four times since Dec. 13, 2014.
Rare is the champion or contender who works more than twice a year. In 1986 Mike Tyson had 11 fights, Granted, nine of them were done in the first or second rounds, but his handlers (and ABC, largely) rushed him back in. They turned him into a serial who punched like a killer, and he became the most watchable athlete in America.
Ray Leonard fought three times in 1980, three more times in 1981. He fought Roberto Duran twice within seven months. He needed only three months to prepare for Thomas Hearns, which was that year?s Fight of the Century and lived up to it.
