Danny Garcia seems to have taken up residence at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
This past Saturday, fighting there for the 10th time in his professional career, the Philadelphia native knocked out Queens product Daniel Gonzalez (22-5-1, 7 KOs) in the fourth round to improve to 38-4 with 22 of his wins coming by knockout. Garcia, who is 8-2 at the Barclays Center, won his first fight at the venue in October 2012, a month after its grand opening.
He took control of the ring early versus Gonzalez and remained in command throughout the bout.
“I know that I hurt him in round one, but my timing was a little off,” said Garcia. “So I decided to work behind my jab, and I knew when he stopped his feet, I was gonna catch him. I was just taking it round by round. I didn’t underestimate him. He was in great shape. My dad told me to just stick to the game plan.”
Garcia, who suffered the first two losses of his career at Barclays Center against Keith Thurman in March 2017 and Shawn Porter in September 2018, did not give a firm answer when asked if this was his last time competing in a boxing ring.
“At the end of the day, I’m healthy and I’ve got a beautiful family, I don’t know if I’m done yet,” he said.
Shifting focus from boxing to MMA, on Saturday, Tom Aspinall will make his first defense of the UFC heavyweight title vacated by Jon Jones against Frenchman Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. Gane has only lost to Jones and PFL heavyweight champion and former UFC heavyweight title holder Francis Ngannou. Aspinall has won three in a row, including avenging his loss to Curtis Blaydes, who defeated him after a knee injury in July 2022.
The UFC will hold its annual Madison Square Garden card on Saturday, Nov. 15. The main event features Jack Della Maddalena making his first welterweight title defense against Islam Makhachev. In the co-main event, China’s Zhang Weili is moving up 10 pounds to 125 to challenge Valentina Shevchenko in a battle between two of the most accomplished women in UFC history, who could steal the show.
Looking ahead to the following weekend, on Saturday, Nov. 22, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, David Benavidez will defend his WBC light heavyweight title against Anthony Yarde, Devin Haney will take on WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr, and WBC junior bantamweight champion Jesse Rodriguez will battle the WBA’s bantamweight titleholder Fernando Martinez in a unification bout.