A stellar year was celebrated in 2011 for boxing in Philadelphia as Bernard Hopkins became the number one light heavyweight in the world, moving back into pound for pound discussions after an exciting win over Jean Pascal.
Steve Cunningham was also the number one cruiserweight in the world for the first three quarters of the year as Mike Jones picked up three solid wins and was emerging as an elite welterweight as whispers placed him as a future Manny Pacquaio opponent.
140lb fighter Danny Garcia on the other hand, flew under the radar with victories over two former world champions in Nate Campbell and Kendall Holt.
Fast forward to July 2012, only one of those four mentioned fighters stands tall for Philadelphia.
Hopkins lost a majority decision and his titles to Chad Dawson in April. Steve Cunningham stepped off his cruiserweight throne with two losses to Yoan Pablo Hernandez in November 2011 and in the February 2012 rematch, whilst Mike Jones fell out of favor in the welterweight division with a brutal knockout loss to Randall Bailey in his first world title opportunity.
North Philly product Danny ?Swift? Garcia, 24, had received his first world title shot against Mexican legend Erik Morales in March and rose to the occasion to claim the WBC light welterweight championship with a unanimous decision victory.
Although Garcia came through the test with flying colours, many boxing critics called the Morales fight a win over a ?shot’ and ‘old fighter? and Garcia was automatically considered to be the weakest champion in the division at that time.
Once Timothy Bradley moved up to welterweight to face Manny Pacquaio, a void had then been left in the number one spot in the light welterweight division.
Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan were scheduled to face off in a rematch of their exciting first encounter on May 19th after Peterson had won a controversial split decision in December last year, but Peterson tested positive for a banned substance one week before the rematch and the fight was eventually scratched all together.
Khan, 25, who said he trained very hard for the Peterson fight, wanted to fight against top level opposition as soon as possible and Danny Garcia was targeted and duly signed on to defend his title against the Briton on July 14th.
Few gave Garcia a chance to be competitive against the 2004 Olympic silver medalist from Bolton and immediately placed the WBC title holder as the underdog.
This past Saturday night in Las Vegas, Garcia shocked the world when he caught the WBA champion with a thudding left hook in the fourth round that sent ?King? Khan and all of the critics down to the canvas. From that point on, Garcia dominated and brutalized Khan until referee Kenny Bayless had no choice but to stop the fight.
Danny Garcia officially became the number one fighter in his division by picking up Khan?s WBA and Ring Magazine titles to go with his own WBC strap, dedicating his win to his hometown of Philadelphia.
After a lackluster first half of the year for Philly, it was a much needed jolt for the city that is synonymous with the sport of boxing.
Garcia now leads the way for the new generation of ?Philly?s Finest? fighters, with such prospects as undefeated heavyweight Bryant ?By By? Jennings, top lightweight contender ?Hammerin? Hank Lundy, and emerging junior middleweight star ?King? Gabriel Rosado hoping to follow the undisputed light-welterweight champion?s blazing trail.
