BROOKLYN – A record 16,533 fans (for a boxing event) packed out Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center for the Premier Boxing Champions’ welterweight unification bout between WBA Super world champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) and WBC world champions Danny “Swift” Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs). Based on the animosity displayed through the fight’s press run, somebody’s “0” wasn’t going to survive the night’s action.
In the opening round Thurman started out the fight unusually aggressive, backing up his promise to test out Garcia and Thurman’s perceived deficiencies in the Philadelphia native’s game early. He connected with an early jab to Garcia’s body, but a fight broke out quickly. Thurman landed a left hook, an overhand right that rocked Garcia, and he added a right uppercut with about :20 left.
Thurman landed four more power punches than Garcia in round one according to PunchStat Report, and the pair combined for 26 total power punches over the bout’s opening three minutes.
The action slowed down and became more tactical in round two. Garcia caught Thurman with a couple of good right hands, but Thurman again responded with a jarring right uppercut in the round’s final moments.
Thurman’s momentum returned in the early part of round three as he landed a pair of heavy right hands before Garcia connected with a left hook to the body.
After a fairly even mix of exchanges in round four, Thurman started gaining an advantage with his side-to-side and in-and-out movement, working his jab more as Garcia looked to counter. All three judges scored the round for Thurman. This was the first time the judges all agreed on a round since scoring round one in Thurman’s favor.
Garcia pressed the issue more in round six, as he took the lead in the majority of the exchanges. Garcia landed a solid one-two combination in the final minute that provoked Thurman to try to steal the round in the final :30. However, all three judges scored the round for Garcia. The underdog wouldn’t win another round in similar fashion until the tenth round.
In round seven both fighters laid back a little after Thurman initially started out like he was trying to get a round back after Garcia’s busier sixth round. Thurman maintained his work rate in the 8th round nearly doubling Garcia in punches thrown 47-27, but both men landed 8 power punches per PunchStat. Garcia landed 57% of his power punches in the round, but was 0-for-13 with jab attempts.
In round nine, Thurman continued to add to his lead behind steady good movement, and landing a couple of uppercuts to outwork Garcia – Thurman threw 26 more punches. Garcia picked his pace back up in round ten, sensing that the deficit on the cards could require the final three rounds, but he was still unable to cut the ring off and get Thurman into the ropes to punish him. He doubled up Thurman on power punches landed 10 to 5, as he bested Thurman for the first time in both punches landed and attempted.
Thurman circled to his left for most of the eleventh round – believing the margin of his lead was too great to make a foolish mistake. Garcia continued to follow him around the ring, but failed to connect with much to begin to set up a stoppage. In the final championship round the big question became a matter of whether Thurman would positively respond to the booing heard from the crowd over the previous couple of rounds.
The two champions mixed it up for the fans, as the pair connected for a combined total of 26 landed punches – the highest since the fast-paced round one. Unfortunately, for Garcia none of his 9 power punches resulted in a knock down or stoppage. A degree of suspense lingered for a few moments, during the decision, as ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. paused briefly before reading aloud the third decisive judge’s card – 115-113 from Joe Pasquale – that declared Keith Thurman as the division’s new unified champion.
Regarding the split-decision Thurman said, “The judges are judges. I thought out-boxed him. I thought it was a clear victory, but Danny came to fight. I knew when it was split and I had that widespread, I knew it had to go to me.
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After being questioned about whether his movement in the later rounds was excessive, Thurman replied, “I was not giving the fight away. I felt like we had a nice lead, we could cool down. I felt like we were controlling the three-minute intervals every round. My defense was effective – he wasn’t landing.”
A disappointed Garcia’s comments were succinct, “I came up short tonight. I thought I was the aggressor. I thought I pushed the pace. But it didn’t go my way.
“I thought I won and I was pushing the fight. But it is what it is.
“He was trying to counter. I had to wait to find my spots.”
Thurman’s big win resolves a nearly year-long rivalry with Garcia – and in part with father/trainer Angel Garcia – but the split decision does very little in terms of definitely settling supremacy in the welterweight division. A key piece to the puzzle will be put in place May 20th in the United Kingdom when IBF world champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) defends his title against the hard-charging Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs). If Brook wins he could possibly move up in weight, but if Spence prevails that should set up a date with Thurman. The man who has reiterated that Spence needed some battles on his resume before he deserved a shot at his title.
Based on Brook’s outing against middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin, a battle is likely.
Regarding Garcia’s next move, he nor his father demanded a rematch, but the former champ should take some time to see how he can re-tool his game to beat opponents that won’t stand toe-to-toe and bang for extended periods. The letter “B” in boxing doesn’t stand for “Plan B“, but in order to beat the elites in any division a fighter’s going to need to be versatile. There are still several appealing fights for the 28-year old Garcia, failing to unify titles at a second weight class against a solid champion isn’t a career-ending moment.
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