Danny Garcia: Being out of the ring for two years was good for me

Danny Garcia’s upcoming middleweight title fight with Erislandy Lara – on the Sept. 14 pay-per-view undercard to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga – will be the first time the Philadelphian steps into the ring in more than 25 months, dating back to his July 2022 win victory over Jose Benavidez Jr.

But Garcia believes this extended inactivity will be more helpful than harmful.

“You can expect the same Danny Garcia,” the 36-year-old former lineal junior welterweight champion and welterweight titleholder recently said to media members, according to a video posted by FightHype. “I really feel like nothing’s really changed. If anything, the two-year layoff helped me. My body feels recovered. I don’t have no injuries. My mind feels good. My body feels good.

“I feel rejuvenated. I feel like I haven’t lost a step. I’m in here sparring with the young guys, veterans. I was sparring with Devon Alexander. I was sparring with Antonio Tarver’s son. I’m feeling good.”

This will be only the second fight for Garcia since 2021. Following his December 2020 loss to unified welterweight titleholder Errol Spence Jr., Garcia was off until the Benavidez fight. The Lara fight had been on the radar both before and after Benavidez, though Garcia believes their collision was delayed as Showtime began winding down its storied boxing program.

“Lara came into the conversation when I was speaking to my team,” Garcia said. “I said, ‘Look, let me get this Benavidez fight to test the water at 154,’ and then I think Lara agreed to fight me at 155, but two years went past. The fight was agreed to. It just took time because, I think, the Showtime thing. The fight is 1724380784 agreed to at 157, catchweight, but there’s no rehydration clause.”

Lara moved up in 2021 from junior middleweight to middleweight, knocking out Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna to pick up a secondary WBA belt. Lara was upgraded to the primary WBA titleholder when Gennadiy Golovkin vacated his title.

Garcia became the lineal champ at 140 when he defeated Lucas Matthysse with a close but clear unanimous decision in 2013. By the end of 2015, Garcia had moved up to 147, and he picked up the vacant WBC belt in 2016 with a decision over Robert Guerrero. Garcia lost that title in his second defense, receiving the short end of a split decision against Keith Thurman in 2017.

Since then, Garcia has stopped Brandon Rios and lost a decision to Shawn Porter for a vacant title in 2018, knocked out Adrian Granados in 2019, outpointed Ivan Redkach to start 2020 but lost to Spence at the end of the year, and then faced Benavidez in 2022.

He is 37-3 (21 KOs).

While Garcia never regained a world title at welterweight, this Lara fight is an opportunity for him to pick up a belt in another weight class.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be a three-division world champion,” Garcia said. “And it’s right here, three-and-a-half weeks away.”

Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.