Philly native Danny Garcia moves up to welterweight class
Garcia, the junior welterweight WBA and WBC world champion, chose to move up rather than defend his title.
THE LONG-ANTICIPATED jump from the junior welterweight division up to the welterweight class is finally here for Juniata Park's Danny "Swift" Garcia.
Garcia, 27, had long been rumored to move up to the highly talented 147-pound class after fighting two non-title bouts at weights between the two classes.
He hasn't defended his WBA or WBC junior welterweight world titles since March 2014.
On Aug. 1, Garcia will at last make his welterweight debut after spending his eight-year career in the junior welterweight class. Garcia will battle Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, where Garcia has fought four times already, including his last two fights - wins over Rod Salka and Lamont Peterson.
The fight, officially announced yesterday, will be broadcast nationally on ESPN as part of a Premier Boxing Champions effort to bring boxing back to cable.
The undefeated Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) has spent much of the last four years dominating the 140-pound weight class. He became WBC world champion in March 2012 when he dispatched Erik Morales in a unanimous-decision victory. Garcia fought the best of the best at 140, including Amir Khan, Lucas Matthysse and Zab Judah.
But concerns about making weight prompted Garcia to fight at 142 and 143 pounds in his last two fights. In April's narrow, majority-decision victory against Peterson, Garcia appeared to lose gas late in the fight.
Garcia was forced by the WBC to relinquish his belt last week when it became clear he had no intention of remaining at 140 and fighting his mandatory challenger, Viktor Postol.
The WBC designated Garcia as "champion emeritus," which means he can challenge the title if he goes back to the weight class. He likely won't, instead moving toward a championship fight at the welterweight level.
Malignaggi, a Brooklyn native and former world champion, poses a decent test to kick off Garcia's new venture. Known as a soft puncher, Malignaggi has just seven knockout wins in his 33-6 record. The 34-year-old hasn't fought since he was knocked out by Shawn Porter in the fourth round of their April 2014 IBF welterweight title fight.
The competition at welterweight includes Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Marcos Maidana and more.