Angel Garcia discusses Danny’s loss to Errol Spence Jr and the future for his son.
Danny Garcia took his third loss last night and fell to 0-3 against marquee welterweight opponents, losing a decision to Errol Spence Jr at AT&T Stadium in Texas.
After the fight, Danny’s father and trainer Angel spoke about the outcome, and their side’s seeming failure to make the right adjustments.
“It was up to Danny. He had to let his hands go. You can’t force them, you can tell them what to do, doesn’t mean they’re gonna do it,” Angel said. “You can have a plan — I mean, Danny should’ve gotten busier. That was the past he brought back. That was what happened in the other fights, he wasn’t busy enough. He took the shots well, he dipped and slipped but he didn’t counter. If he would’ve did a little more countering when he was dipping and slipping, that was the game plan.
“He took shots well, he gave them back. One time I thought he hurt Spence a little bit. But then he let him get back into the fight. And then Spence was stealing the rounds, too, he would get busy with like a minute left in the rounds.
“What he could’ve did better was that, get busier. This is all about punching, it’s about landing. It’s not about looking pretty, slipping and dipping, you gotta counter there. You can’t slip and dip and don’t counter, the judges don’t give you points for that. You win rounds by landing, you have to land punches. He didn’t land enough. If he would have did what he did in the 12th, the last couple seconds of the last round, that was what he was (supposed to do). He just didn’t let his hands go.”
When Danny (36-3, 21 KO) spoke about Spence’s jab, which he gave credit to immediately after the fight at ringside, too, Angel balked.
“You making it seem like he killed you with the jab. He didn’t kill you with that jab,” Angel said. “You just didn’t counter the jab. But you seen everything, man. Stop saying that.”
There is now question about what Danny will do next. At 32, he’s won world titles at 140 and 147, but he’s lost to Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, and now Errol Spence Jr at 147. There will still be fights for him at welterweight — PBC have a glut of good talent in the division, and a lot of their sort of mid-tier guys would surely love the chance to face Garcia in a FOX or Showtime main event in 2021. Danny has also previously mentioned an intention to move up to 154, where PBC have more talent.
Angel said that the option to go to 154 is there, and doesn’t expect size would be a big problem, though that would remain to be seen. And then he circled back to the defeat to Spence, again putting the onus on Danny, which is fair enough, as Danny was the one in the ring.
“He lost, yes, but it was because he chose to do that,” Angel said. “It’s not because Spence whooped his ass or nothin’ like that. I didn’t see no whoopin’. A little bruise here and there, but that comes with the package.”
He added, “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed at (Danny). But I’m not mad. I was pissed when we lost to fuckin’ Keith Thurman. But I’m never gonna accept the L. But what do you do? You move on. That’s it.”
