DANNY GARCIA has announced his return to the ring, hoping for a more comfortable night’s work following his ninth-round stoppage defeat to WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara.
Indeed, it was hardly a stellar display back in September 2024, with the 37-year-old quite emphatically proving that he is no longer the formidable force he once was.
Even at a catchweight of 157lbs, Garcia, 37-4 (21 KOs), the naturally smaller man, was no match for fellow veteran Lara who – by some miracle, it seems – remains a world champion at 160lbs.
But still, it has nonetheless been confirmed that ‘Swift’ will square off against Daniel Gonzalez, a fairly unremarkable campaigner, on October 18.
This time around, though, Garcia has decided to back down to super-welterweight where, before losing to Lara, he claimed a majority decision victory against Jose Benavidez Jr.
Prior to that, the two division world champion, who has not exactly enjoyed a scintillating run of activity in recent years, lost a semi-competitive battle with Errol Spence Jr in 2020.
But regardless of his dwindling form, Garcia is gearing up to headline a card – aptly billed ‘Farewell to Brooklyn’ – at the Barclays Center, New York, next month.
His opponent, meanwhile, is perhaps best known for losing a majority decision to former world champion Chris Algieri – down at 140lbs, no less – in 2019.
Other than that, Gonzalez, 22-4-1 (7 KOs), has remained far removed from a fight of any real significance, and should ultimately represent a kind assignment at this late stage in Garcia’s storied career.
Beyond this outing, however, it is difficult to see Garcia launching a meaningful title charge – against any one of Sebastian Fundora, Bakhram Murtazaliev or Xander Zayas – in the not too distant future.
