All eyes will be on the World Championship Quadruple-header on Saturday
Danny Garcia, with the help of his father, has come prepared for another go around with Erik Morales. Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime Boxing
New York (October 16, 2012) – The eight featured fighters who will compete in Saturday’s highly anticipated boxing show at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., are now being showcased to the media. Today, six of the eight were seen working out at the Crunch Gym Lafayette in New York City and Tom Casino of Showtime Boxing passed along several photos. With their unquestioned notoriety, Showtime should have considered calling this extravaganza, “The Who’s Who of Boxing Show.”
David Diamante is scheduled to be Showtime’s ring announcer on Saturday night. Diamante has been growing his signature dread locks since 1988. You wonder how uncomfortable it’s been – 24 years with the long ropes hanging down.
David Diamante hangs ten with his dreadlocks flying in every direction.
Foremost of the six boxers is the Unified Super Lightweight World Champion, 24 year-old Danny “Swift” Garcia (24-0-0, 15 KOs) from Philadelphia, PA. Garcia will be defending his title against the 36 year-old, former World Champion Erik “El Terrible” Morales (52-8-0, 36 KOs) from Tijuana, B. C., Mexico.
In their first go-round, García began the fight slowly, which Morales used to his advantage and injured Garcia’s nose. As the fight progressed, García took control, scored a knockdown in round 11, before receiving an unanimous decision with scores of 118-111, 117-110 and 116-112.
Also present on Tuesday, they had 23 year-old WBA Interim Super Lightweight Champion Pablo Cesar “El Demoledor” Cano (25-1-1, 19 KOs) from Atizapan de Zaragoza, México City, Mexico who will be facing the 31 year-old, feather duster, Paulie Malignaggi from Brooklyn, N. Y (31-4-0, 7 KOs). As you can see, over his illustrious 12 year career, the “Magic Man” has only 7 knockouts to his credit.
Devon Alexander (L), Pablo Cesar Cano (r) continue their workouts right up until Thursday. Tom Casino/Showtime
Malignaggi will be putting his WBA Welterweight Crown up for grabs against the hard-hitting Cano who may well be looking for some revenge. Back in ‘04, Malignaggi defeated Ramiro “Rambo” Cano of Guanajuato, Mexico, surely a relative of some kind.
Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam 27-0 (top) will be facing the unbeaten, #1 rated, WBO middleweight contender Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (bottom).
Next, there was the 28 year-old, undefeated WBO Middleweight World Champion whose name sounds like a rhyme from that Dr. Seuss book. You know the one that goes, “The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that.” Any who, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-0) from Pantin, Seine-Saint-Denis, France by way of Cameroon, will be facing the 29 year-old, unbeaten, #1 rated WBO middleweight contender Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin of Manhattan, New York City, N. Y. who has an identical (27-0) record.
Randall “The Knockout King” Bailey
And finally, the 25 year-old, former two-time World Champion, southpaw Devon Alexander “The Great” (23-1-0, 13 KOs) from St. Louis, Missouri was also present. His only loss was to Timothy Bradley back in January of 2011. He’s set to face Randall “The Knockout King” Bailey (43-7-0, 37 KOs) of Miami, Florida for his IBF welterweight title. Bailey, who was born on September 13, 1974 in Ops-Locka, Florida, a little over 38 years ago, might be meeting his Waterloo. Alexander has some of the quickest hands in the sport.
Avoid making any round by round wagers on the fights with your buddies from back east. The Showtime Championship Boxing telecast will air live at 8:00 p.m. ET (delayed on the West Coast). Preliminary fights will air live on Showtime Extreme beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET (delayed on the West Coast).
The undercard is also loaded with many of New York’s top up and comers, including Brooklyn’s hot middleweight prospect Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs (22-1-0, 19 KOs), former World Champion Luis Collazo (31-5-0, 16 KOs), the Bronx’s rising star Eddie Gomez (10-0-0, 7 KOs), former world title contender Dmitriy Salita (34-1-1, 18 KOs) and Brooklyn prospect Boyd Melson (10-1-0, 4 KOs).
In late August, I had the distinct privilege of visiting with Danny Garcia, his dad, Angel Garcia and their close knit comrades at their gym in Philadelphia. To say the father and son are popular is an understatement. You might think adored is over-the-top but that’s closer to the truth.
After his son’s good fortune, father and son rented out the entire second floor of the Harrowgate Boxing Gym, the oldest boxing gym in the city, so their friends could have a place to train undisturbed and at no cost.
Is Garcia ready for Saturday night’s rematch? He was ready before they signed the contract. Garcia and his dad live for the sport and never miss a workout. It’s not a job, it’s a passion. They look forward to going to the gym and spending time with their extended family. Garcia is one of these athletes who is always seeking perfection, one more pull up, one more squat and faster running times. He has a personal strength and conditioning coach who keeps challenging him to do more, more reps, more of everything until he feels the pain which translates into a gain.
The members of Garcia’s gym are so very happy for their main man. They feel they’re a part of his success. They’ve witnessed his progression. How he came up through the ranks, all the way from that shy 10 year old hitting the bag for the first time, up to the world champion he is today.
Garcia’s progression: He had 120 amateur bouts. After becoming the Under -19 National Champion in 2005, he became the U. S. National Champion in 2006. In 2009, he became the WBO Youth Intercontinental Light Welterweight Champ; after two years, the WBO Intercontinental Champion, this year, the WBC Light Welterweight Champion of the World, adding the WBA belt four months later.
How long can Garcia hold on to the crown? He’s well grounded. If there were any heat or pressure on him, his father is right there to deflect it. To get some distance from his old neighborhood, not exactly Park Avenue, the Garcia family recently purchased a home in the suburbs of Bensalem, PA.
When times get stressful for the World Champ, he has his father prime most and then there’s that cadre of good buddies at the gym. At this point in his life, all is good and God willing it will remain that way so that his large family, the boxing family at 1920 Venango Street in Philly, will be able to reminisce about the good times, the times they shared with the world champ.
The Harrowgate Boxing Club isn’t exactly in the nicest neighborhood and the broken glass will surely need replacing before Old Man Winter sets in. Photo: J. Wyatt
Climbing the stairs to his second floor gym is an exercise in itself. Here we see Danny Garcia getting ready for his workout by doing warmup exercises.
Mates in Danny Garcia’s gym come in all sizes. (photo bottom left) Ricardo “The Time Bomb” Caraballo works the speed bag alongside Garcia; youngsters, George Torres (l) and Joseph Caraballo III (r) pose for a photo between exercises; and finally we see Garcia checking out his form in the mirror. Photo: J. Wyatt
Last time Danny Garcia faced Erik Morales, it didn’t start well, but after the first couple rounds, Garcia found his rhythm and started to land the solid shots to the head. At the news conferences, Garcia and his father have an understanding that if anything nasty has to be said, Pop will do it, so his boy never looks like the bad guy.
When asked for a group photo, Garcia’s buddies didn’t hesitate to gather around their champion. Below (l to r) we have Osvaldo Rivera II hitting the heavy bag then Ricardo Caraballo (r) posing for a photo with his dad. Photos: J. Wyatt
