Welterweight Danny Garcia Attempts to Go From Prospect to Contender

Added on Oct 05, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Philadelphia native Danny “Swift” Garcia looks to continue his journey through the welterweight ranks when he returns to the ring this Friday night in his hometown against former world title challenger “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis in a ten round main event bout at the South Philly Arena.

The hard-hitting 22 year old first turned pro just under three years ago and made an impressive debut needing just over a minute to register his first win against Mike Denby in New Jersey. He continued to be impressive in the first test of his career in early 2009 when he easily outpointed journeyman fighter Cristian Favela over the course of eight rounds.

Last December Garcia (18-0, 12 KOs) gained even more momentum in his career when he knocked Enrique Colin out in the second round to win the vacant WBC Youth Intercontinental Junior Welterweight Title.

Most recently in a move up to the welterweight division Garcia became the interim WBC Youth Wold Welterweight Champion with a ninth round stoppage win over Jorge Romero in Cancun.

Regional titles included, a win for over Arnaoutis would be the biggest achievement of Garcia’s young career and could possibly lead to world ranking implications in the very near future.

Arnaoutis, who turned 31 last month, desperately needs a win over Garcia to bring some stability to his once promising career. After his 2001 debut Arnaoutis began to turn heads with his success in the junior welterweight (140 lbs.) division. In 2004 Arnaoutis (22-6-2, 10 KOs) fought to an impressive draw against the hard hitting Juan Urango and then followed it up with an even more impressive first round knockout against Jason Litzau for the vacant WBO NABO Junior Welterweight belt.

Things would continue to go his way up until his 2006 split decision loss to Ricardo Torres which was immediately followed by a more decisive loss to Kendall Holt.

Despite the back to back blemishes on his record, Arnaoutis and his team went back to the drawing board and came back with four consecutive wins all of which took place in 2008.

The following year would be far less kind to Arnoutis starting with his bout with Victor Ortiz. Ortiz stopped Mighty Mike midway through the second round. Arnaoutis went on to drop three of his next four bouts with the most recent coming against Demetrius Hopkins in a very one-sided unanimous decision.

As outlined, Friday night’s Telefutura broadcast has some major implications for the career of both fighters. A loss for Arnaoutis could leave his thinking about a change in careers. A win for Garcia will set the stage for a possible world ranking and bigger names to potentially add to his resume.

Both fighters are facing a must win type of fight, which will make it a must see for all of the fans.