Danny Garcia Embraces Fight with Erislandy Lara at 155 Catchweight

Danny Garcia foresees an attractive and all-too-makeable fight waiting for him in the near future.

The two-division titlist from Philadelphia suggested in a recent interview that he would welcome a bout with longtime Cuban middleweight contender Erislandy Lara. Garcia said that Lara, who holds a WBC middleweight belt, was the first to float the idea of fighting one another. According to Garcia, Lara is amenable to fighting at a catchweight.

Garcia, a longtime key player at 147, will make his debut at the 154-pound limit against Jose Benavidez in the headliner of a tripleheader on July 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Showtime. Garcia hopes to eventually compete for and win a title at 154, which will likely mean he will have to go up against the division’s newly undisputed champion, Jermell Charlo, who has all four belts, to do so. While Garcia is interested in a Charlo fight, he is also particularly keen on fighting Lara, 39.

“We definitely want to be a champion again at 154, so if he (Charlo) has the titles we fight him,” Garcia said on a recent episode of The PBC Podcast. “But there’s another guy that’s been calling out my name too. Lara wants to fight me. I know he has the middleweight belt and he said he’ll fight me at a catchweight.”

Garcia said a catchweight of 155 would interest him. He noted that the fight would be relatively simple to make since both he and Lara fight under Premier Boxing Champions. (Charlo is also with PBC). Garcia claimed that he could contend for Lara’s WBA “World” belt at 155, even though historically most sanctioning bodies do not allow fighters to win their titles at a catchweight.

“After this fight, after I get this W, I can fight for the middleweight title at 155,” Garcia said. “I think it’s real realistic. He said my name. I think it’s a great fight. He has a great résumé. I got a great résumé. Right now, we’re worried about Jose Benavidez, but I think that’s an easy fight to make.

“He’s with PBC, I’m with PBC. There’s really no in betweens. He says he wants to fight me, and he said he’ll fight me at a catchweight. So, we can do it at 155.”

Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) last fought in December of 2020, a unanimous decision loss to unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. of Desoto, Texas.

Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs), a former titlist at 154, is coming off an eighth-round stoppage of journeyman Gary O’Sullivan last month on the undercard of the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero lightweight bout on Showtime Pay-Per-View at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.