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Khan vs. Garcia Presser –
Trash Talk The Order Of The Day
By Barbara Pinnella
ESPN ZONE at L.A. Live was the location of what turned out
to be a heated press conference to officially announce the
main event fight between Amir “King” Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) and
the current WBC Super Lightweight Champion Danny “Swift”
Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs). This fight will take place at the
Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV on July 14.
After breakfast, the main man of Golden Boy Promotions,
Oscar de la Hoya opened up the conference to welcome the
media, and reminded us that both of the fighters could have
picked easier opponents. “I take my hat off to them; they
didn’t have to take this challenge. Danny Garcia could have
than the easy road. Amir Khan didn’t have to take a tough
challenge in Danny Garcia. This should be an exciting
matchup.”
But far and away the star of the show – and not in a
positive way – was Angel Garcia, Danny’s dad and trainer.
Things started out calmly enough, with the senior Garcia
thanking God for the opportunity. That tone quickly changed.
“First of all, Khan, you’re an overrated fighter. There are
a lot of fighters who are overrated, and we’re gonna execute
every single one of them. We come out here to fight the
best. You don’t want to see old horses in the ring; you want
to see young colts mixing it up. Peterson whooped Khan like
an octopus – hit him from all kinds of angles! Then he
blamed it on the judges – come on now! When Danny beats you
who you gonna blame it on? That the gloves have rocks in it?
Ya gonna blame it on the rocks?
“Whatcha gonna do? One two, roll out – all night? One two,
roll out? Come on, man! When Danny starts laying his hands
on you man…you’re overrated! July 14 and STILL undefeated,
super lightweight champion of the world, Danny “Swift”
Garcia! It is what it is!”
If it ended there, that would be fine, but Angel wasn’t done
yet. First however, it was Danny’s turn. “I’m just lucky to
be here. July 14, it’s going to be a great match; I’ll be
24-0, still undefeated. Khan’s a great fighter, I’m a great
fighter. When you put two great fighters together you get an
awesome show, and that’s why I’m here.
“A lot of people pick their opponents and want to be careful
to make themselves look good, I’m not. I’m in here to fight
the best. We want to fight the best. I just can’t wait to
show the world what I’m about. You haven’t seen the best of
Danny Garcia. I’m still growing, but I’ve got a lot of
talent. I want to thank Amir Khan for allowing me to accept
this challenge. I’m ready. I don’t talk much; I let my dad
do the talking. But it’s gonna be a great fight.”
We moved to the other side, and first up for Khan Promotions
was Amit Vali. “We respect Danny Garcia, and his team, and
his father, so to come up and disrespect - it’s not the way
we talk, and it’s not the way our team talks.”
As Vali continued to talk about his team it was the first
time that Angel was began making remarks. It would not be
the last.
Amir stepped up next. “Danny stepped up to the challenge.
You know, he’s a champion. He had a good fight against Erik
Morales. This is going to be a big test for me. Danny’s
father can keep saying what he wants, that I’m overrated.
When I beat your son, am I still going to be overrated?
Well, we’ll see what happens.’
It was now that the mouth of Angel opened up again and never
really stopped. It was hard to understand what both were
saying a lot of the time, as Angel just kept making comments
and talking over Amir. But you could understand this:
“I promise you all, I’m gonna beat his son. You think you’re
a tough guy, I’ll just beat you.”
When Khan mentioned that he beat Maidana, Senior jumped in
with, “Maidana didn’t even train! He didn’t even train! He
trained in Puerto Rico doing three rounds with little kids!
And you still had to work! And Peterson beat you!”
“The thing is this,” Amir continued. “If he thinks he can
beat me and that I’m overrated, we’re going to find out on
July 14.”
As Angel continued his insults about Khan’s excuses and
opponents, Amir said, “Trust me, we’re gonna find out.
Everybody knows that when Amir Khan gets in the ring it’s
always an exciting fight. And you won’t be in the ring with
him. Make sure you guys are ready!”
Angel took offense to that. “You said I won’t be in the
ring? Yes I will, yes I will, because we’re one. One soul!
Danny’s response was that he was ready right now.
As things remained heated Amit walked up and encouraged Khan
to leave the podium. There was then the stare down, which
saw both fighters talking to one another. Unfortunately,
they weren’t loud enough for us to hear what was said.
Not surprisingly, Angel could be heard throughout, although
not always understood. Wish I could have gotten more,
because sometimes it was quite amusing.
There was quite a difference between the two Garcia’s. Danny
did say that he let his father do the talking. Not sure if
that’s a good idea or not. Be that as it may, this fight
might just be more interesting than some might have guessed.
At least there is no lack of emotion.
"Khan vs. Garcia," a 12-round super lightweight bout, is
presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Khan Promotions and
sponsored by Corona and AT&T. The bout will be telecast live
on HBO World Championship Boxing at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT in the
United States and live on Sky Sports 1HD in the United
Kingdom at 1:00 a.m. GMT on July 15.
Tickets priced at $250, $200, $150, $100 and $50, not
including applicable service charges, are on sale now and
available for purchase at the Mandalay Bay box office and
all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith's Food
and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with
a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.
Tickets also are available for purchase at
www.mandaylaybay.com or
www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets for fans traveling from
the United Kingdom are available for purchase online at
www.sportscorporation.com or by calling +44 (0)845 163
0845.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
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