Photo edit by Crown Boxing
Undefeated former Super Lightweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) will make his Welterweight debut Saturday, August 1, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York when he takes on former Super Lightweight and welterweight champion Paul “Magic Man” Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs).
This bout seems to be a way for Garcia to get his feet wet in the 147-pound division, and possibly add another well known name to his list of accomplishments.
Standing in the way of Garcia’s welterweight aspirations is Malignaggi, who has no intention of becoming a stepping stone for the young champion’s entry into the division. Garcia has notable wins over Lucas Matthysse, Amir Khan, Zab Judah, two over Erik Morales, and has also been on the fortunate end of controversial decisions in recent bouts against Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson.
Malignaggi’s showcase doesn’t contain much in the way of convincing power punches, which is due largely in part to hand injuries suffered early in his career. The inability to land with authority has been disastrous for Malignaggi on occasion, especially when paired against aggressive power punchers.
Shawn Porter and Ricky Hatton were unfazed by his punches-in-bunches technique, as they both forced a stoppage by marching straight forward, and steamrolling the Brooklyn native.
To his credit, Malignaggi has offset this power deficiency by focusing on technical skill, speed and volume punching. The aforementioned attributes have provided him with a successful career in which boxing fans have witnessed him win world titles in at both Welterweight and Super Lightweight.
This skill set will have to be perfectly executed in order to defeat Garcia. His best bet is to make sure Garcia doesn’t have a stationary target, so he needs to set the tone early by utilizing steady lateral movement. This constant movement will force Garcia to keep resetting, which should provide multiple opportunities for Malignaggi to get in close, land a flurry of combinations and get out before Garcia has the chance to square up and connect.
Garcia’s punches will definitely be more convincing to the judges, this means Malignaggi must outwork him every round and not allow him to get into any form of rhythm.
Keeping Garcia’s punch stat numbers to a minimum may work to Malignaggi’s advantage as well, if he can generate a significantly higher statistical margin, which could prompt the judges to score the round in his favor.
Although he doesn’t deliver thudding power punches, Malignaggi possesses all the technical skills needed to upset Garcia, and send him back to the drawing board sporting his first loss.
