Date set for Garcia fight

DANNY GARCIA won both of his fights last year despite what the experts said. He defended his WBC light welterweight title twice in fights in which he was not favored. His rise to prominence spurred rumors that he would be next in line to fight the great Floyd Mayweather.

Garcia now has a date set to try to extend his success. He will fight on March 15. The date was first reported by ESPN.com and confirmed by the Daily News. No opponent or venue have been announced, but details will be released "very soon," according to the Garcia camp. Richard Schaefer, of Golden Boy Promotions, told ESPN that Garcia would be fighting in the light welterweight division, which takes a meeting with Mayweather out of the equation. Garcia's fight will be a 140-pound title defense to open up his 2014 campaign.

The March 15 fight will air on Showtime. Schaefer and Showtime Sports boss Stephen Espinoza met Tuesday in Los Angeles at a news conference to announce Canelo Alverez' next fight and to iron out details of Garcia's fight.

Last year, Garcia extended his undefeated record by winning by decision against both Zab Judah and Lucas Matthysse. He took down Judah on April 27 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a unanimous decision. On Sept. 14, he defeated Matthysse at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a fight that not many experts believed he would win. Garcia is 27-0-0 with 16 wins coming via knockout.

Garcia, 25, is from the Juniata Park section of the city. He made his professional debut in 2007 at the Borgata in Atlantic City. He has not lost since then, and has garnered praise from the boxing world, especially in the last year. His last five fights have been to obtain or retain the WBC light welterweight title, all of which he has won by either unanimous decision, knockout or technical knockout.