In this video interview caught by FightHype, former welterweight titlist Danny Garcia shares his thoughts on the first loss of his career and how, although it’s mostly put it past him, it still haunts him. Check out what he had to say...
Garcia on if he thinks he’ll be able to get a second shot at Keith Thurman any time soon:
“I don’t know, to be honest with you. Maybe he’s happy where he’s at in his life right now...I don’t know, man, but I gotta avenge that, I gotta have the rematch before my career [is over]. Next year or whenever, I need to avenge that fight - ‘cause I know I’m the better fighter...I just know I’m the better fighter in my heart, I know I’m the better fighter, and that’s what kills me the most.
“But I put it behind me, and I’ma come back and I’ma get him, trust me.”
On how he still feels about taking that first loss:
“I mean, it still haunts me. Like, you know, I wake up like ‘Damn!’ like ‘Fuck! I got a fuckin’ L on my record, man. I gotta die with this shit.’ That’s how I feel like, ‘Fuck’. In the amateurs if you lose it’s like ‘it’s cool, I can be a pro.’ Even with the money it’s like, yeah, you make millions but it’s like when you fight as a kid you do it for the glory. And you can say a lot of fighters say ‘I just fight for the money’ but they don’t because like you fight for the love of the sport. You love it, it’s all you know how to do so when you lose it’s like ‘Fuck!’
“Especially when you lose and you know you could beat the person...I’m old school, I believe you gotta whip the champion’s ass, like you gotta beat me the fuck up...after the fourth round like he just stopped fighting. I don’t know, man. Boxing’s crazy right now. I just feel like a lot of aggressive fighters don’t get the credit they deserve...I know moving is good, ring generalship, but we not engaging — it’s a different story, you know what I mean?
“When you not engaging and showing you want to put up a fight and you still win rounds that way -- like I lost, one judge gave him the last two rounds like ‘how?’...If you watch it, he didn’t throw no punches in the last two rounds. He was just moving. That’s what gave him the fight, that one judge.”