Stiff Jab 2013 Boxer of the Year: Danny Garcia
Photos by Tom Casino for Showtime
by Gautham Nagesh
There are many fighters that deserve consideration as Stiff Jab 2013 Boxer of the Year, because 2013 was a tremendous year for boxing. 2013 saw Showtime emerge as the first real threat to HBO’s dominance on TV, and a number of other channels like Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports expand their coverage of the Sweet Science on the airwaves.
The result of that renewed competition was seen in the ring, where the war between the two premium cable networks soon extended to the rivalry between promotional giants Top Rank and Golden Boy. Forced to compete for fan dollars and eyeballs, often on the same night, the matchmakers responded with a series of deep cards featuring riveting contests, including a number of fights to crown true world champions in vacant divisions.
Of those champions as recognized by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, four stand out in particular for conquering the best to earn their crowns. They are Floyd Mayweather Jr., Guillermo Rigondeaux, Danny Garcia, and Adonis Stevenson. All four can make a legitimate claim to the top honors, but in the end our staff settled on the man who took the biggest risks, and showed the most heart.
Philadelphia’s Danny “Swift” Garcia has been perpetually underrated, despite obvious achievements on both the amateur and professional levels. Critics complain Garcia isn’t special in terms of speed or power, but he somehow beats fighters more blessed on both counts. When we look back on 2013 in five years, it will be Garcia’s star-making win over Argentine killer Lucas Matthysse that most stands out. For that win and his April victory over Zab Judah in Brooklyn, Danny Garcia is Stiff Jab’s 2013 Boxer of the Year.
For whatever reason, Garcia has never gotten his due from the boxing world, a fact his father and trainer Angel never grows tired of pointing out. Fans may have been slow to embrace Garcia, but he is the sport’s future, and the only viable opponent left for Mayweather, save Manny Pacquiao.
Garcia started the year as the top-ranked junior welterweight, due to his stunning upset of Amir Khan last July. That win, sandwiched around a pair of victories over faded champ Erik Morales, made Garcia one of the top fighers of 2012. But rather than rest on his laurels, he sought out and defeated the division’s best in 2013, firmly establishing himself as the champ at 140 lbs.
First up was the fifth-ranked Judah, seen as over the hill but still dangerous. Garcia might have had youth on his side, but he was willing to go into Brooklyn and hand Zab a beating on his home turf. Judah’s competitive effort was likely the last stand of a great fighter; Garcia’s victory was beyond doubt. Here’s what Sarah had to say about the fight:
Mindful of his opponent’s elusiveness, Garcia punched to Zab’s chest in the early rounds. I was dismayed at the correctness of this strategy. The hammer fell in round five, when Zab risked a big one-two and Garcia countered beautifully over the low left. Zab’s legs noodled.
The sixth was target practice. Zab staggered around the ring, eating right hand after right hand. The traitorous crowd, which had been chanting “Brooklyn!” and “Judah!” now broke out in cheers of “Danny! Danny!”
While the Judah win was expected, the same can’t be said about Garcia’s championship showdown with Matthysse on the undercard of Mayweather-Canelo. It’s easy to forget this now, but almost all the so-called “experts” were certain that Matthysse would brutally stop Garcia. We were in the minority:
I had been leaning toward picking Garcia for this fight, so I’m not going to chicken out just because Matthysse would be the easy answer. I honestly think Matthysse is the more gifted fighter, especially physically, but Garcia has something special inside him.The most important muscle a fighter has is heart. Danny Garcia’s heart is as big as anyone in the sport. That’s why we’re picking him to win a split decision.
The fight itself was superb, a rare matchup of two top-notch fighters at the peak of their abilities. Matthysse acquitted himself well, and even managed to land a few of his patented bombs on Garcia’s noggin. But Garcia showed fortitude that had previously only been hinted at. It was Matthysse who struggled with his opponent’s power, and found himself hurt badly at several points in the second half of the fight:
Garcia’s gameplan was spot on from the outset, and he showed remarkable poise in sticking to it despite some early success by Matthysse. Lucas went back to the jab in the 5th round, and continued his strategy of holding and clinching on the inside to smother Garcia’s punches. Matthysse won the 5th, and turned it up even more in the 6th. Matthysse straightened out his looping punches, and they began landing flush. A hard combination rocked Garcia, and the Philly fighter appeared to be feeling the cumulative effect of Matthysse’s concussive blows.
Danny’s trainer and father Angel Garcia gets a lot of flack, mostly because he has managed to insult almost every ethnic group in the fight game at some point or other. But Garcia knows his son, and he has taught him well. He slapped Danny in the face between the 6th and 7th rounds, then exhorted his son to wake up and fight. It was a master stroke, and it worked to perfection.
Garcia started mounting a real attack in the 7th, starting with a pair of right hands from in close. A left hook appeared to damage Matthysse’s eye, which swelled up rapidly until it was almost shut. With his vision impaired, Matthysse was a sitting duck for Garcia’s left hand. Danny took advantage, landing a hard one-two combination that appeared to hurt Matthysse for the first time in recent memory.
The next day at the Las Vegas airport I found myself seated next Matthysse and his team, who like me were reduced to eating Burger King in one of the great culinary cities in the country. Matthysse’s face was purple and swollen; he looked like a blacksmith had used his face for an anvil. To his credit, he remained affable and posed for pictures with fans, perhaps aware that his loss had come against a fighter on the cusp of greatness. We thought it best to respect Matthysse’s privacy rather than ask for his view of Garcia.
Contrast that with Timothy Bradley Jr., who was chosen for the year’s top honor by many in the boxing world, including publications we hold in high esteem. Bradley had a spectacular year, and firmly erased the lingering bad taste of his robbery win over Pacquiao. On paper, Bradley’s wins over Ruslan Provodnikov and 2012 Stiff Jab Fighter of the Year Juan Manuel Marquez are the most impressive by any single fighter last year.
We’ll have more to say about the Provodnikov fight later, but it’s fair to say Bradley escaped the Siberian Rocky, rather than conquering him. 30 more seconds and it could have been Provodnikov with his hand raised, having come from behind to stop Bradley in the 12th. The Marquez win was impressive, but JMM also looked much older than he did against Pacquiao last year. Plus, Bradley is a welterweight, and the only way to earn this honor is by beating the best, aka Mayweather.
Mayweather is also a popular choice, and one that’s tough to dispute. He won the true junior middleweight championship by defeating Canelo, and did so in stylish fashion. The fight captured the world’s attention, broke box office records, and put boxing back into the limelight, if for only one night. But this award is for beating the best, not stacking chips. When it’s all said and done, the Alvarez and Robert Guerrero wins don’t even rank among the best of Mayweather’s career.
A strong case can be made for Cuban master technician Rigondeaux, who truth be told was my pick for this honor. I had even written the post already, which is why it has taken so long for this piece to appear. But one of the benefits of having a real staff instead of being a solo operation is that I was overruled, and in the end, my staff was right. Rigo’s handling of Nonito Donaire was the single most impressive win of the year, considering Donaire’s former status near the top of pound-for-pound lists.
But Rigo needed a second win of similar stature to overcome the relative lack of interest and competition in the super bantamweight weigh division. Beating Joseph Agbeko was good, but not enough to help him snag this award. Should Rigo move up to featherweight and keep dominating next year, it will be difficult to deny him the honors, no matter how boring his fights are.
Finally there’s Stevenson, who has been roundly disrespected by the fight press this awards season. If that were due to Stevenson’s questionable and criminal past, I would be wholly sympathetic, but it appears to be mostly due to ignorance and his lack of a big-name backer. Stevenson is the last world champion flying the flag of Detroit’s Kronk Gym, so we have to respect his accomplishments, particularly his first-round knockout of light heavyweight champ Chad Dawson.
The Dawson win and Stevenson’s stoppage of Tavoris Cloud are both premium wins, but both fighters were also coming off losses. Stevenson also handled Tony Bellew, who appears to be just short of world class, and avenged his lone loss against journeyman Darnell Boone. A great year, but not quite enough to edge Garcia. Should Stevenson beat Sergei Kovalev or Andre Ward next year, he should finally get the respect and awards he deserves.
In the end, it is Garcia who stood above all others in 2013, taking the biggest risks, and delivering in spectacular fashion. One of the great conceits of sportswriters is that we all believe we can see the next great one coming. Sometimes it’s obvious, as in the case of Mayweather, but other times we become enamored with someone that looks the part but doesn’t have it inside, like Adrien Broner. For every Peyton Manning, there is also a Tom Brady. Some are born great, but others must take it for themselves.
Garcia has answered every challenge placed in front of him, without ducking anyone or relying on a matchmaker to make him look good. He is a champion forged by fire, and hardened for the future superfights that await. A date with Mayweather seems inevitable, and perhaps a showdown with Broner may eventually be in the cards. Whomever Garcia fights, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against him.