By: Hans Themistode
When Danny Garcia tasted defeat for the first in his career against Keith Thurman in March of 2017, the Philadelphia native was adamant that he was the recipient of a bad decision. The former two-division champion dropped his WBC welterweight title via split decision after his second-half rally fell just short.
In his most recent ring outing, Garcia was thoroughly out-boxed as he suffered the most lopsided loss of his career against unified champion, Errol Spence Jr.
The consensus surrounding both Spence Jr. and Thurman is that the unified titlist is far and away a much better fighter. However, after sharing the ring with both, Garcia actually gives Thurman the nod in several categories.
“I feel like Thurman was the better skilled fighter,” said Garcia during a recent interview with FightHype.com. “Thurman had better defense, he’s faster and he’s stronger. Spence is not as fast or not as much power punching as Thurman but he’s a lot physically stronger. He’s three times stronger than Thurman.”
Presently, Spence Jr. is heading towards a unification showdown with WBA titlist, Yordenis Ugas. As for Thurman, his return to the ring is still an open-ended question as he’s remained on the sidelines since his close split decision defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in July of 2019.
Putting his one and only loss to the side though, Garcia is steadfast in his belief that not only is Thurman and Spence Jr. operating on the same level but so is Shawn Porter and WBO belt holder, Terence Crawford.
“I been in there with all of them and they’re all at the same level,” continued Garcia. “I fought him (Crawford) as an amateur at the highest level so I would say that they’re all on the same level, all of them.”
In Garcia’s contest against Porter which take place in September of 2018, the Philadelphia product came up just short in his bid to become a two-time welterweight champion. In terms of Crawford, while both he and Garcia have yet to share a ring in the pros, they’ve swapped fists on two separate occasions in the amateurs with Garcia winning their first contest before losing the second.
While many of the top names in the division are all targeting showdowns against one another, Garcia will no longer be amongst them. The 33-year-old officially stated a few months ago that his days at 147 pounds are over as he will instead opt to move up to 154.