Danny Garcia simply escaped a fight in which there was a lot of buzz that maybe the WBC and WBA junior welterweight champ should have lost.
Mauricio Herrera did not show up last night to collect a paycheck; he was there to win the WBC and WBA junior welterweight titles as he used his veteran skills to move forward, use his jab, and stayed low to frustrate the Champion as Garcia allowed Herrera’s awkward boxing style to smother his offense for a large portion of the fight.
There were a lot of swing rounds early on in the fight that could have been the deciding factor into Garcia keeping his titles because Garcia was busier in the early rounds, but that awkward jab of Herrera bothered Garcia, especially the sneaky jab to Garcia’s body that may not have been getting scored by the judges.
Another huge caveat in the fight was that this championship fight between Garcia and Herrera was an open scoring bout so boxing fans knew who was winning the fight after every 4 rounds which really takes away the drama in a fight. Open scoring simply should be banned!! It is not good for boxing!! Anyway, back to the fight….
Garcia just did not look like himself last night as Herrera succeeded in backing up the champion up for most of the fight with his jab and catching the champion with the occasional hooks and overhand shots off of the jab.
Herrera simply brought the fight to Garcia last night. Despite Herrera’s valiant effort, however, Garcia stayed busy in the ring and was able to mount some offense late in the fight against Herrera as the Puerto Rican crowd rallied around Garcia and cheered to the top of the lungs every time Garcia connected on Herrera no matter if the punches by Garcia were blocked by Herrera or not.
In the end, Herrera go it a good darn go, but Garcia was awarded the 12th round majority decision victory, bloody nose and all.
Conclusion:
Many can argue that Garcia could have easily lost this fight as again, a lot of boxing fans felt that Herrera did enough to take those junior welterweight titles from Garcia, but you have to factor in the power punching of Garcia in this fight and let’s not forget the horrible caveat which is open scoring.
Garcia’s work rate early on in the fight and his offensive rally late in the fight after getting his nose smashed wide open in the 9th round by Herrera could have been the deciding nod that the judges hung their hats on in giving Garcia the majority decision; remember, there were a lot of swing rounds early on in this fight and one judge had the fight scored 40-36 for Garcia after 4 rounds which was horrible given the fight that Herrera bought to Garcia in this fight.
Garcia admitted after the fight that he is starting to have problems making weight at 140, (junior welterweight,) so he may be thinking about moving up to 147, (welterweight.) in the near future and test the waters there.
Garcia is a good fighter, and you have to give him a lot of credit for gutting out a majority decision against Herrera; a very tough fighter who was no slouch given that he beat the likes of Ruslan Provodnikov and gave Mike Alvarado life and death in his two close decision losses to Alvarado. No matter who Garcia fights next, whether it is at 140 or 147, he will still be a dangerous fighter to face in the future.
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