Garcia says he feels stronger as welterweight debut approaches

Two members of Danny Garcia's team tied a white string across the ring, and the fighter went to work on Wednesday afternoon.

Garcia started slowly, shuffling from one corner to the other, casually ducking under the string and throwing warm-up punches at the air. Then his feet picked up speed, and he grunted with every punch. When he got to the corner in front of a group of photographers, Garcia yelled through a three-punch combination and drowned out the music playing from the back of the gym.

With his first welterweight fight coming up against Paulie Malignaggi on Aug. 1 in Brooklyn, Wednesday offered a sneak peek at the bigger and, according to him, better Danny Garcia. The unbeaten Philadelphia fighter (30-0, 17 knockouts) thinks that moving from super lightweight to the 147-pound class will fit his style and advance his career.

The 34-year-old Malignaggi (33-6, seven KOs), is a former welterweight champion who has not fought since April 19, 2014.

"I feel a lot stronger," Garcia, 27, said before a short workout at his own DSG Boxing Gym. "I'm able to work on things now, later in camp. Like before at 140, I'd be coming in here to lose weight and checking my weight three, four times a day, feeling weak and being hungry.

"But now I'm able to get the right nutrition, food. My legs are there, I've gotten faster."

To make sure his quickness increases with his weight, Garcia said he has been doing a lot of footwork and agility drills.

Angel Garcia, his father and trainer, said the decision to go up in class came at a perfect time in his son's career

"It's time, man, it's been eight years now," Angel Garcia said. "You can't be in an era where you're stuck for the rest of your life when bigger things are going on around you. And you stay stuck and you look back and say, 'Wow, I should have been there three years ago.' "

The fighter and his father believe that fighting as a welterweight will open opportunities for Garcia.

"There's no reason for me to go back in my career," Garcia said. "The sky's the limit for me now at 147. I just need to keep going forward in my career and no steps back."