North Philly's Danny Garcia steps up in weight class

STANDING INSIDE the DSG Boxing Gym on Jasper Avenue in North Philadelphia, with fight posters from past victories lining the walls, Danny "Swift" Garcia doesn't believe his change of scenery affects his deftness in the ring. To Garcia, the only difference between this training spot and a crusty, old school gym is that those grimy places have rats and "give you worms."

While his training might not be different here, there is one thing that has changed for Garcia: his weight class. Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) will make the jump from light welterweight to welterweight on Saturday, Aug. 1 against Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Malignaggi's native Brooklyn, N.Y.

Garcia, fighting at 147 pounds now as opposed to his typical 140, thinks the move was a long time coming.

"I believe I've been a welterweight [since] two years ago," the North Philly native said. "I just was holding my body down to make 140, but now I feel like I did everything I could do at 140, so 147 is the new chapter in my boxing career."

"I feel a lot stronger. I'm able to work on things later in camp. Before at 140, I'd just be coming to the gym to lose weight, checking my weight three or four times per day and feeling weak, pushing myself, being hungry."

The switch gives the 5-9 Garcia a greater sense of comfort during his prefight process, as he now focuses less on his weight and more on technique.

"I wasn't able to cut the ring off the way I wanted to because when you cut the ring, you have to be quick, you have to corner him, so I just feel like I didn't have enough energy to do that," Garcia said about his light-welterweight days, when he was the WBC and WBA super lightweight and The Ring magazine junior welterweight champion.

"But now, with the extra weight, I'm able to just corner people, use the jab, cut the ring and hold my ground."

Garcia, despite coming out with a win, hadn't been too impressed with his last fight, a majority decision (115-113, 115-113, 114-114) over Lamont Peterson in April. The training camp that preceded the bout had Garcia prioritizing making weight over working on his skills, just another impetus for him to move to a heavier weight class.

Garcia's father, Angel Garcia, acting as his son's hypeman as much as his trainer, has some issues with critics who said his son didn't deserve to win the Peterson fight or that his previous weight class was holding him back.

"At the end of the damn fight in the back of the arena, [Garcia] was smashing his gloves to get in [Peterson's] locker room, saying, 'I'll go 20 more rounds,' so that tells what kind of killer he is," his father said, having none of the talk that his son was worn out and his conditioning was poor after 12 rounds.

His welterweight debut, the bitter taste left after the Peterson fight and the upcoming birth of his child, who is due in August, all converge into a storm of motivation carrying him to his date with Malignaggi.

"I feel like my style matches up great against anyone at 147. I'm just ready," Garcia said. "[Malignaggi's] a former 147-pound champion, and I believe it's a great fight no matter what anybody says."

"The fight makes complete sense. He's from Brooklyn. I'm from Philly. East Coast, the Italian fans, the Puerto Rican fans, the Philadelphians, all the fans on the East Coast," Garcia said.

Garcia's father, to no one's surprise, is confident in his son's chances, expecting the fight to only last four rounds. He believes in his son's capabilities more than anyone, even Garcia himself.

"If [Malignaggi] wants to brawl, he can brawl, but he's got to land [punches]," the elder Garcia said. "And to land, you got to come close. And if you come close, you're going to get hit."