Porter: Danny Garcia Gets 'C' For His Performance Against Rios
By Keith Idec
Shawn Porter wasn’t especially impressed by Danny Garcia’s performance against Brandon Rios as he watched from a ringside seat six months ago.
Porter expected a faster, sharper Garcia than the one he saw February 17 in Las Vegas. If Porter would’ve faced Rios that night, he is certain he would’ve stopped the former WBA lightweight champion earlier than the ninth round.
The 30-year-old Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs), who’ll fight Garcia on September 8, broke down the former welterweight and junior welterweight champion’s outing against Rios on a conference call Tuesday.
“Honestly, prior to the knockout, it was a C performance for me,” Porter said. “It was a high-C performance. I thought that he was not as fast and sharp as I expected him to be. If that’s Shawn Porter versus Brandon Rios, no disrespect to Brandon, but that fight doesn’t go nine rounds. But it’s all about what you do. And he found the right punch at the right time, he landed it, he knocked him down … and that was what I needed to see from Danny in order for me to get in the ring and do what I did. If Danny doesn’t knock out Brandon, I don’t get in the ring and this fight may or may not be happening right now.”
Garcia rocked Rios with a picture-perfect right hand to the jaw that dropped Rios with 54 seconds to go in the ninth round. A stunned Rios reached his feet, but referee Kenny Bayless didn’t like the way Rios responded to his commands and he stopped what had been a competitive welterweight fight at Mandalay Bay Events Center at 2:25 of the ninth round.
Philadelphia’s Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) became just the second opponent to beat Rios by knockout during his 39-fight, 13-year pro career (34-4-1, 25 KOs). Timothy Bradley was the first fighter to defeat Rios by knockout when Bradley stopped him in the ninth round of their November 2015 fight at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
His victory over Rios was Garcia’s first fight in nearly a year. Before he stopped Rios, Garcia hadn’t fought since losing a split decision to Keith Thurman in their 12-round, 147-pound championship unification fight in March 2017.
“I give myself a B,” Garcia said of how he graded his performance versus Rios. “I was off for a year before that fight. So I felt like I knocked off a lot of rust. I felt like I did real good for being a year off, and winning by knockout definitely was the goal. I felt like that was the only way to win that fight, by knocking him out. That made me feel good, made me feel happy. So I’m back where I needed to be. I’m active. I just fought in February, I’m fighting again and, you know, I always tell people an active Danny Garcia is a dangerous Danny Garcia.”
The Garcia-Porter bout for the vacant WBC welterweight title will headline Showtime’s tripleheader two weeks from Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
Brooklyn’s Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs) and Charles Martin (25-1-1, 23 KOs), of Carson, California, also will square off in a televised, 10-round heavyweight bout that night. The 12-round IBF welterweight elimination match between Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) and Argentina’s Cesar Barrionuevo (34-3-2, 24 KOs) will be broadcast by Showtime, too.