So you goin give Garcia his props now like you said you would??
let me start by saying beltholders today wouldve been contenders back years ago. the belts make the public think that these fighters are better than what they really are. its not nearly as hard to pick up a world title now as it was some time ago. Hell, Ishe Smith has a title.
As far as Danny, yes, he deserves props...more than what I was willing to give him before the fight but still perhaps not as much as you may think he deserves. Garcia is solid. He is not as good as Judah was at 25. 25 year old Judah would kill Garcia....simply because the difference in speed was too great. Zab still has good enough reflexes defensively but he cant shoot those punches like he used to.
What it looked like to me is that Danny is a big and strong JWW. He looked stronger than Zab and naturally bigger. Although Zab fought at WW and was comfortable at JWW....Danny looks bigger and stronger at that weight than Zab ever was. Now...either that means that Zab was probably more of a natural lightweight or Danny ultimately is a natural WW who melts down.
I know what you were expecting. You were expecting Garcia to stop Zab or make him quit like Cotto did. Maybe thoroughly outbox him like Spinks did. Neither happened.
Danny didnt impress me enough to make me think he is the best JWW. Style wise I would pick Peterson to beat him. I would see a Matthysse fight as pretty much even mainly because Matthysse doesnt put his foot on the gas enough in the later rounds. I could see Danny eeking out a decision over him. If Matthysee would fight solid every minute, he would eat Danny's food.
If you read my previous posts....I said that Zab has bad balance and fights going the wrong way. Those are some things that played in Danny's favor. The KD was a good balance shot. Zab wasnt even hurt from that because his eyes stayed on Danny the whole way down. Take away that KD and the fight is even closer. (I felt Zab may have won a couple of the early rounds and Danny won the rest until the 10th) Zab wasnt hurt badly, not like he was against Cotto or the enormous Baldomir. He didnt take a sustained beating like he did from Mayweather.
If we use Zab's previous losses as a measuring stick for Danny, then its obvious that this was probably Zab's best loss. It was probably the only fight that Zab had a chance of winning outside of the Baldomir fight.
If Khan could avoid that left hook he would beat Danny. Khan is a good offensive fighter that has an Achille's chin.
That's my assessment of Danny and the fight. He is a solid fighter, nothing more. I dont see him having a reign at JWW much longer and when he moves up to WW with fighters who have more of his natural size and strength....he will pretty much be what Zab is at this point but at a much earlier age. A solid gatekeeper/stepping stone.
Maybe that's not the props you were looking for but thats about as much as I can honestly give him.