Danny Garcia: Keith Thurman Was “Shadow Boxing” In Our First Fight

With Danny Garcia ready to make his return to the ring and looking to get a rematch with unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman, Garcia thought the champion didn’t box that well in their first encounter.

During a press conference to kick off the road to Garcia’s fight against Brandon Rios, Garcia briefly talked about his first fight with Thurman.

“I felt like I fought a good fight against Thurman. He didn’t really engage. I thought after the fourth round he was basically shadow boxing. I don’t blame him because you have to be dumb to stand in front of me. We’ll make some adjustments and add to what I already do well,” Garcia said.

Garcia vs. Rios is a WBC welterweight final eliminator with the winner getting a shot at Thurman’s WBC title after Thurman fights mandatory challenger Shawn Porter. A Thurman vs. Porter fight does not look like it will happen anytime soon as Thurman told Fightful months ago that his first fight coming from elbow surgery will likely not be against Porter.

But Porter actually could have ended up not being Thurman’s mandatory heading to 2018 because the WBC did order an eliminator fight between Porter and Garcia which would have been for an interim WBC title. Garcia said he would have been open to the idea of fighting Porter, but he was never offered a fight, despite Porter challenging Garcia on social media.

“I haven’t been offered the Shawn Porter fight but I think that would be a great fight. He likes to come forward and I’m a great boxer and counter-puncher. I think the fans would love it, but Shawn Porter should be careful what he’s wishing for,” Garcia said.

Garcia’s fight with Rios will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing card on February 17. The co-main event of the February 17 card will be the WBC super middleweight title rematch between David Benavidez and Ronald Gavril.