Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"Luke Thomas for SB Nation here at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, opposite trainer for Danny Garcia who puts his WBA, WBC, and Ring Magazine titles on the line opposite Lucas Matthysse. Alright Angel, I want to ask you about the rant you made here yesterday. Are you suggesting that people are choosing Matthysse because they think it's cool to be Argentinean? Help me understand what it was."
Angel Garcia
"I don't mean it like that. I mean all American fighters in this country can't fight, I don't know what's going on with that. Trying to change that because these people never gave nothing to this country, OK? And they all come to this country and they all get all this fame. Listen, the thing is this, Danny represents this country, and they don't give him no hope. OK? That's what pisses me off."
Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"Do you feel like -- I mean, there's a couple of top Argentinean fighters, but Argentina doesn't have a reputation as a place for amazing boxers more than than the USA, does it?"
Angel Garcia
"No, no, no. What I mean is that Danny don't get no respect. It's nothing personal about their country. If they wanna take it personal, freedom of speech in America. Constitution of the United States. I can say whatever I wanna say. I'm not disrespecting them, I'm not touching them, I'm not putting my hands, I'm not throwing their flag down, I'm not doing none of that. I'm just saying what I feel about American fighters. The kind of respect they get. I'm trying to defend Danny."
Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"So Danny's record, he's undefeated, world champion with multiple sanctioning bodies. So why is he underrated? Why is he underrated? Where does that come from?"
Angel Garcia
"Because we're working in God's time. That's what people wanna see. They're still blind. Their eyes in darkness. Hey, listen, it's OK. They don't gotta love him. They don't gotta love him. I gotta love him. I'm happy. I love him, I know Saturday night, still undefeated champion. Listen, Danny's not just gonna give up his title. If he's thinking he's gonna come here and hit Danny with a two-piece, he's in for a long night. You don't just hit the champion with a two-piece. They said one punch could change the fight around, the same way it could change his fight around. I'm thinking about Danny. I'm not worried about him. I'm not going in thinking like an opponent. I'm thinking like a coach that trains a champion. That's their job. They the ones that got two losses. Why they tryin' to sugarcoat, tryin' to put icing on the cake with Zab and Alexander. No, they beat him! Why? Because they're two American fighters that beat him? Now they're trying to say that it was controversial. No. You lost."
Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"You thought those losses were clean?"
Angel Garcia
"Listen, if he would have won, what would it have been? Matthysse won, right? So why Zab and Alexander don't get the props? They won."
Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"But after the Peterson win, he's got some momentum in his career."
Angel Garcia
"Yeah, but the thing is this, come on, man, listen. He fought Mike Dallas -- no disrespect to Mike, no disrespect to Peterson, but Mike took that fight on two weeks' notice. I don't know his life. I don't know if he financially needed the money. I don't know that. That's in between him and his people and his family. Not disrespecting Mike, because Mike's my friend. But Mike took that fight on late notice. I as a coach woulda never did that."
Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"Here's my point, though: if and when Danny gets past Lucas Matthysse, do you believe that's the final fight to shut up the critics? Is that the final one?"
Angel Garcia
"Nahhh, it's still gonna be the same. You know what they're gonna say? 'Ahh, he already lost twice. Alexander beat him. Zab beat him.' It doesn't matter."
Luke Thomas, SB Nation
"So what does this fight prove?"
Angel Garcia
"Well, it doesn't prove nothin'. Well to us it proves that Danny's one of the best, to me. To me. Wanna know how the people wanna take it, the public wanna take it, like they still wanna think the same way. You can't change the public. I know what I'm gonna say to myself, he proved once again that he's the number one junior welterweight champion in the world. If the people still wanna think that he's not, and they still wanna say, 'Aw, Danny knows how to win,' then they keep saying that. It doesn't matter. But I know, this Saturday night, September 14, still undefeated champion, 27-0. And if Matthysse opens up, he's getting knocked out."
--
Transcribed by Scott Christ.