Danny Garcia vs Mauricio Herrera
Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Sat, Mar 15 at 7:00 PM on SHOWTIME
12 rounds for the WBC, WBA and The Ring light welterweight titles
PREDICTION: Danny Garcia stoppage / KO
“Never looking impressive but consistently winning” - Emanuel Steward.
This quote sums up Danny Garcia perfectly. Everything he does looks somewhat mediocre yet he keeps winning against world class opponents. How does he do it? While his fighting style doesn’t look spectacular he is great at things that are not so obvious. He is smart, very level headed, and has great timing and accuracy. His fight on March 15 against Mauricio Herrera is a significant step down in quality compared to previous opponents and a chance for Danny to cash in on his new found fame. Let’s then take a look at the things he did to beat the world class opponents he faced on his way to becoming the light welterweight king.
His great timing and accuracy showed up most clearly when he fought Amir Khan. Getting soundly beaten in the first 2 rounds, Garcia seemed completely unable to handle Amir’s quick hands. The counter punches he threw were far too late against Khan’s blistering speed. That is until round 3 when Amir came in with his by now predictable left hand right hand combo. In a great display of timing Danny stayed in the pocket against the left hand then straight away turned his head and body to the right causing Amir’s right hand to miss, while throwing a left hook over the top. Lucky punch right? Well maybe not as was seen when he fought Zab Judah.
At first Danny had trouble with Amir's speed, but he adapted and once used to it he counter punched with perfect timing and precision seriously hurting his opponent.
In Danny's fight against Zab Judah, Zab’s one two right jab left hand cross was effective in the early stages. Zab would clinch after these combo’s not allowing Danny the space to counter. In a clever adjustment later in the fight however Danny decided to take a step back when Zab launched his predictable attack. This created the space Danny needed to launch a perfectly timed right hook, landing with precision and hurting Zab. A knock down came later in the fight on another Zab right hand left hand combo. This time the left got through but Danny has a granite chin and took it well all the while maintaining his composure enabling him to fire back with a left right combo of his own.
Apart from these displays of timing, accuracy and composure there are examples of his smartness in the ring. Against Zab he constantly kept his lead left foot on the outside of Zab’s lead right. In this position he was able to pepper Zab with looping right hand leads so as to keep Zab from escaping to his left. If Zab tried to escape by moving away from Danny’s right hand he would run into a danger zone in the form of Danny’s left hook, not to mention there was not much space for an exit as Danny’s left leg was in the way. Due to Danny’s limited physical abilities this strategy did not overwhelm the more athletic Zab but he was able to narrow this disadvantage and eventually hurt Zab with what he is good at. Counter punching. Particularly impressive was when he did have Zab hurt he didn’t wildly chase him around the ring, but very calmly kept with the fight plan of keeping that left lead foot on the outside all the while pressuring the still recuperating Zab.
When Danny had Zab hurt he kept calm, staying to his fight plan of keeping his lead left foot on the outside of Zab's to line up his right hand lead.
By the time he came to fight Lucas Matthysse late in 2013, it seemed his physical and skill limitations would catch up with him. In his previous fights he looked like a poor mover who could only fight standing still. This could get him in trouble against the hard hitting Argentinian. But surprisingly from the first bell he came out moving quite well. Nothing impressive but well enough to win. Against Amir and Zab his advantage was in letting them come to him and countering or trying to restrict their movement. It would have been unwise to try and match their superior footwork. Against Matthysse however this style would have played into his opponents hands. Matthysse prefers a stationary opponent to unleash his power on, so Danny changed it up as he saw his advantage in his much improved footwork.
Danny also made a clever adjustment during the fight. When Matthysse attacked he would duck down under Danny’s counter leaving Danny swinging at air. Danny’s trainer Angel Garcia then implored his son to ‘hurt him to the body’ as an adjustment to Mattyse’s ducking head movement. Straight away he started countering Matthysse's attacks by landing to the body, eventually turning the fight in his favour.
Danny adjusts well during his fights. He started going to the body when he couldn't find Matthysse's head, in the process turning the fight in his favour.
As can be seen in the above video clips Danny Garcia does a lot of small unspectacular things to get spectacular results. Smart adjustments, composure, great timing, and accurate punches have enabled him to get the better of world class opponents all the while propelling himself to the top of the light welterweight mountain.
This leads us to his latest match up vs Mauricio Herrera. This is as they say in pro boxing a ‘stay busy fight’. A chance for Danny to cash in on his new found fame. Herrara has poor movement, defence, and power but he does posses an incredibly strong chin, though how long he will be able to last against Danny is the only point of interest in this fight. Chances are not for the whole 12 rounds so a Danny Garcia KO is likely. If not, it will be a dominating win with lots of action. Be sure to tune in March 15.
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