Danny Garcia just finished his media workout, but you’d never know it.
Not a single bead of sweat can be seen on the Philadelphia boxer’s forehead, as he fields questions from a scrum of reporters huddled around him at Gleason’s Gym following his very light ring work. The same can’t be said for his father, Angel Garcia, who has worked himself into his usual frenzy, and is animated as can be while holding court in front of a separate pool of reporters.
Like father … not like son in this case. As Angel provides colorful responses that devour minutes on journalists’ tape recorders and cameras, Danny succinctly slips some inquiries, while peppering others with jabs, making sure to reserve that knockout punch for the ring and not a reporter’s notebook in the form of a headline-grabbing money quote.
The Garcias’ system of Angel speaking freely — and wildly at times — and Danny keeping it brief works for the star boxer.
“Absolutely. I don’t like doing interviews anyway. So, I let him do his thing,” Danny said of his dad often having the bigger spotlight during the promotion of his bouts. “My job is to fight and that’s what I do.”
And a fight is what Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) should expect Saturday night when he faces Shawn Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) for the vacant WBC welterweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
As Garcia saunters out of Gleason’s and ducks his head into a waiting white Ford Expedition just adjacent on Water Street, he sinks into the seat behind the driver and looks contemplative, with his right thumb resting on the bristles of his goatee and his index finger placed on his temple. Being driven, instead of driving, will let you think things through. So, just how pivotal is this bout for Garcia?
“It’s a big fight for me,” Garcia exclusively told Sporting News, which joined the boxer on the ride back to his Brooklyn hotel following his media workout Wednesday. “It’s definitely a legacy fight. It’s a world-title fight. It’s an opportunity to win my fourth world title, so this is definitely a big fight.”
Porter agrees about this being a legacy fight, while also adding that the championship sweetens up the stakes.
“This is a part of my legacy — beating a guy who has been dominant for a very long time and being able to not just be in the ring with him, but beat him," Porter said. "He’s in my way of me trying to capture a dream or goal of winning that WBC title.”
Following a split-decision loss to Keith Thurman in March 2017, Garcia bounced back with a pulverizing right hand that gave him a ninth-round TKO of Brandon Rios this past February.
The aftermath of that bout had Porter rather uncharacteristically crashing Garcia’s in-ring celebration and challenging him to a fight. Although many fight fans believe that Porter sparking that calculated confrontation paved the way for this Sept. 8 bout, Garcia won’t let his opponent have that psychological victory.
“This fight was made because the belt was vacated and I was the No. 1 and he was the No. 2,” Garcia says adamantly. “And that’s the only reason why this fight happened. No other reasons.”
Throughout his career, Porter has carried a penchant for being the aggressor, seemingly mauling his way inside with a barrage of blows and staying up, close and personal in the faces of his opponents.
But Garcia insists that he won’t fall victim to Porter’s pressing style.
“I’m a different type of fighter. I know how to hold my ground,” Garcia vowed. “I know how to control the distance, I know how to counter real good. It’s about setting a tempo and not falling into that.”
Of course, Angel took it further, guaranteeing a knockout victory for his son on Saturday night.
“We’re going to do what we want to do,” the outspoken father/trainer promises. “We’re controlling the fight. We’re the A side.”
He added: “At the end of the day, ain’t nothing Porter could do to Danny. When Danny knocks him out Saturday, ain’t nothing that he ain’t done. Danny is already Danny Garcia. Danny is helping Porter out by fighting Porter. Nobody knows who Shawn Porter is — people know him in the boxing world, but people outside boxing don't.”
Both 30-year-old boxers spoke with Sporting News about the importance of making the most money possible over their respective careers, while still cementing their legacy. However, when pushed to choose one over the other, Garcia and Porter lean in different directions.
“Your legacy lasts forever, the money does not,” Porter offered.
Countered Garcia: “At the end of the day, we fight for the legacy, but you don’t want to be just a fighter with legacy with no money.”
Delving deeper into that regard, Garcia is 100 percent focused on the Porter fight, but unabashedly declared that the future opponent who generates the most money for him will wind up being the bout he’s most interested in next.
“I got to get this victory first, but whoever is the most money [afterwards],” Garcia said about his next opponent after Porter. “At the end of t,he day that’s what it’s all about. Show me the money.”
With a win over Porter, a rematch with Thurman or showdown with an Errol Spence Jr. would show Garcia that heavy cash he covets so much. But one step at a time.
“I’m not even worrying about [Spence]. I’m not worried about no other fighter to be honest with you,” Garcia said. “My mindset is being the best I could be and whoever they put in front of me, beat them. Right now, I’m fighting Shawn Porter.”
Just in case something derails his financial plans, Garcia is planting seeds — quite literally — to create revenue streams that thrive when his career in the Sweet Science is long over. Garcia told SN that he’s close to getting authorization to start his very own marijuana dispensary in Philadelphia.
“We didn’t get the green light yet. Not yet. We’re very close,” Garcia said. “We were supposed to get the results already, but they said the results are taking longer than expected. But from the looks of it, we have a very good chance of getting it. It’s going to be something big for me, for my career after boxing.”
Business acumen is another reason that Angel puts his son on a completely different level than Porter. While combing through Brooklyn streets on the ride back to their hotel, Angel points to the “DSG” label that adorns his son’s shorts during the ride in the SUV.
“DSG stands for Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia. That’s in the boxing world, but it’s also a brand — Don’t Stop Grinding,” Angel said. “People wear this stuff. It’s a brand. That’s the difference between you being a fighter and a brand. Shawn is not helping Danny at all.”
And according to Angel, Porter’s father, Kenny Porter, isn’t helping Shawn, either.
“He does a lot of things with his son that I would never do with Danny. He controls his money,” Angel alleges. “He’s a grown man. I ain’t controlling anyone’s money. I could tell you to save it, but if you don’t want to save it, that’s your business. You earned that. You don’t control your son when he’s 30-years-old. Danny and I have a totally different relationship. I have a father-son relationship with Danny where we talk about everything. We hang together, we party together. I live in Danny’s house with my wife, my daughters. That’s a father and son relationship.”
That father-and-son relationship has endured plenty of painful obstacles. From about seven-years-old to 10-years-old in Philly, Garcia didn’t have his dad around, as Angel was locked behind bars on drug distribution charges. That led to his family briefly unraveling, as Danny was left back in both the second and third grade. When Angel got out of prison, he trained Danny to a celebrated amateur career, which included the Philadelphia pugilist winning the under-19 national championship in 2005 and the U.S. national title in 2006.
As his boxing career was taking off, somber news grounded the Garcia family later that year, when Angel was diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer. The grim diagnosis, though, was met with a braver fight. Angel beat the disease in 2007 enough for it to have gone into remission in 2009. Garcia turned pro in 2007 with Angel by his side. For over a decade, Garcia has etched himself as one of boxing’s hardest-hitting welterweights with victories over notable fighters such as Amir Khan and Zab Judah on his ring resume.
As “Swift” gets older in the fight game, he can’t help but think about not only adding to his career earnings and legacy, but also his family name.
“We started together, we’re going to finish together,” Danny said about he and his dad’s journey in the hurt business. “That’s what it’s all about. Garcia name is going to be remembered in the boxing game for a long time.”
And Garcia will look to add an extra chapter to that name Saturday night against Porter.
