The borough of Brooklyn is only a few weeks removed from Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero’s electrifying bout at the Barclays Center. Tonight, the sweet science returns to the Barclays Center for another exciting evening. Leading the way, two-division champion Danny Garcia is set to make his debut in the 154-pound division. While he’s expected to be a player in the super welterweight division, he has a tough road ahead of him. Young contenders like Tim Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora could pose a threat to the former champion. Not to mention, veterans like Erickson Lubin, Brian Castaño and Tony Harrison stand in his way. There’s also a guy named Jermell Charlo who holds all of the division’s championship belts. Before Garcia can even begin to think about those fights, he must first get by José Benavidez Jr.
José Benavidez Jr. may not be a household name, but he was once thought to be one of the top contenders in the 147-pound division. Unfortunately, a few incidents out of the ring and a tough loss to Terence Crawford derailed his career. Having only fought once since his bout with Crawford in 2018, Benavidez Jr. has a tough, uphill battle ahead of him. However, he has an opportunity to get back on the right track if he can pull off an upset win against Garcia in Brooklyn.
There’s a lot at stake tonight, but these two fighters have an opportunity to put themselves in the 154-pound title picture with a win. Who do you think will come out on top?
Round One
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (10-9)
Ryan’s Thoughts: José Benavidez Jr. is clearly the bigger man tonight. According to Mike Coppinger of ESPN, he rehydrated up to 172 pounds over the last day or so. Not to mention, he has a height advantage as well. With that said, Garcia appears to be the faster, more explosive fighter at the moment. He’s using the left hand the body to set up the right upstairs. It hasn’t landed, but it’s something to look out for.
Round Two
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (20-18)
Ryan’s Thoughts: As mentioned previously, Benavidez Jr. is clearly the bigger man, but he’s not necessarily using his height to his advantage. Instead of using his reach to keep Garcia on the outside, he’s trying to walk Garcia down. While he’s successful in walking Garcia down, the Philadelphia native is winning the majority of the exchanges when they get close. It’s still competitive early on as the fighters feel each other out.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “2-0 Garcia, who is controlling the fight. He’s set the pacr, nice jabs to the body,” veteran boxing journalist Dan Rafael tweeted.
Round Three
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (30-27)
Ryan’s Thoughts: Benavidez Jr. is the heavier, longer fighter, but he’s using none of that to his advantage tonight. For every three or four punches that Garcia throws, Benavidez Jr. throws one or two. While Benavidez Jr. claims that none of Garcia’s shots hurt him, he’s still being far too inactive to win rounds.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “Danny is seasoned. He’s the vet. Silly tactics and talking during the round is not gonna throw him off. Danny can box and has a chin. Benavidez snapping and landing the jab nicely,” Raging Babe tweeted.
- “I feel like Benavidez could be up winning, but he’s going to get caught with something stupid, from constantly playing around, dropping his hands,” former junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring added.
Round Four
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (39-37)
Ryan’s Thoughts: Finally! José Benavidez Jr. is opening up and throwing shots. He’ still missing a few too many shots, but that was by far his best showing thus far. It was a very tight round, but I scored it in Benavidez Jr.’s favor.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “Danny was getting tagged! Woke up. And took the rest of this round. Boxing smart. Gotta stay smart though. Benavidez’s dangerous,” actor Rosie Perez tweeted.
Round Five
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (49-46)
Ryan’s Thoughts: José Benavidez Jr. has woken up a bit over the last two rounds. He’s able to counter Garcia with his left as he pulls away. While he has missed a few times, the shots that have landed are power shots. With that said, Garcia has been just a bit too quick and agile for him to land anything of consequence. On the other end of things, Garcia may not be hitting Benavidez Jr. with anything that hurts him, but he is landing clean shots.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “Garcia methodically winning round after round. Benavidez not busy enough at all. Garcia busy, landing and landing a lot to the body through 5,” Dan Rafael commented.
Round Six
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (59-55)
Ryan’s Thoughts: This fight has been dictated by Garcia’s speed and Benavidez Jr.’s inactivity. From round to round, Garcia lands a left to the body and throws a right to the head. Benavidez Jr. continues to shake his head and claim that none of his punches are doing damage, but they don’t necessarily have to hurt to score points. This fight could easily be a 6-0 shut-out in Garcia’s favor.
Round Seven
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (69-64)
Ryan’s Thoughts: Garcia’s super welterweight debut is going as well as he could’ve hoped. While his power hasn’t carried from his 140-pound days, his speed, accuracy and chin have. He’s able to take shots from Benavidez Jr. at times, remain busy and land scoring shots. His opponent may shake his head and mock Garcia, but it’s clear that he’s frustrated.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “Rd 7: Garcia 10-9. Doing his thing and Benavidez not doing much at all other than posing. Garcia landed a really good right hand to that snapped his head back that round too. 6-1,” Dan Rafael tweeted.
Round Eight
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (79-73)
Ryan’s Thoughts: We’re at the point of no return for Benavidez Jr. Winless since 2018, this was his opportunity to jump back into the picture with a strong performance or a win. Instead, he’s posturing and attempting to mock Garcia. He lands certain shots of consequence, but he hasn’t put together a strong performance for more than a minute at a time. At this moment, we’re heading toward an uneventful, dominant decision victory for Garcia.
Round Nine
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (89-82)
Ryan’s Thoughts: There’s not much else to say about this fight. Garcia is quicker and seemingly more focused than Benavidez Jr. He’s busier and simply outworking Benavidez Jr. right now. The time for Benavidez Jr. to assert himself in this fight has passed and he needs a knockout to win.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “Rd 9: Benavidez 10-9. Best round of the fight for him, landed nice combo, a hard right hand. 7-2 Garcia,” Dan Rafael tweeted.
Round Ten
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (99-91)
Ryan’s Thoughts: Jabs, jabs and more jabs! Benavidez Jr. is not moving enough and he’s allowing himself to be a target for Garcia. At his point, it appears that we are headed for a decision unless either Garcia or Benavidez Jr. lands a huge shot. Other than that, it’s clearly Garcia’s fight to lose.
Round Eleven
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (109-101)
Ryan’s Thoughts: Prior to the fight, fellow Philadelphia native Stephen Fulton Jr. said that he’d like to see Garcia let his hands go a little more than he has in past fights. Fortunately, Garcia has done just that. From the opening bell, he’s been the much more active fighter and he’s managed to frustrate Benavidez Jr. all night long. There’s one round to go in Garcia’s 154-pound debut and it’s gone pretty well so far.
Round Twelve
Ryan’s Score: Danny Garcia leads José Benavidez Jr. (119-111)
Ryan’s Thoughts: Danny Garcia closed out his 154-pound debut in style. He let his hands go and he was able to tag Benavidez Jr. to the head and body, especially during the final 90 seconds of the round. Benavidez Jr.’s lack of head movement made him a stationary target for Garcia’s jabs and he paid the price.
Boxing Twitter’s Analysis
- “Danny giving him a taste of his own medicine and sticking his tongue out lol,” Raging Babe tweeted.
- “Garcia toying with Benavidez in rd 12, embarrassing him,” Dan Rafael added.
- “Yay!!! No need for scorecards! Congratulations Danny Garcia! Fought a smart clean fight. Respect to Benavidez,” actor Rosie Perez commented.
