By: Sean Crose
Not so long ago, Danny Garcia was one of the biggest names in the fight game. He bested men like Amir Khan, Lucas Matthysse. Pauli Malignaggi, Erik Morales and Zab Judah. After a reign as a junior welterweight titlist, the Philly native moved up and tried his hand at the 147 pound division. He didn’t do bad at all, but lost close fights to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, two top operators, respectively. Yet after dropping a decision to welterweight terror Errol Spence late in 2020, the fighter known as “Swift” decided to take a break.
Now ESPN reports the man is ready to return, moving up to junior middleweight to face Jose Benevidez on July 30th up the road from his hometown of Philadelphia, at Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center. Now in his mid thirties, the 36-3 Garcia is looking to start a new chapter in what has frankly been an impressive professional career. The 27-1-1 Benavidez is hoping to spoil the party, of course. At 30 years of age, the Phoenix based fighter has an impressive resume, losing only once, to Terence Crawford, no less. Still, Benevidez has only fought once in the past three years, meaning he’s arguably been more inactive than Garcia has.