Former two division world champion Danny Garcia scored a vicious one punch knockout over Daniel Gonzalez at the Barclays in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday night. Although it was titled “Farewell to Brooklyn,” we might not have seen the last of Garcia as a fighter.
The promotion and interviews leading up to fight night all had a retirement theme to it however Garcia (38-4, 22 KOs) didn’t want to commit to retiring prior to the fight and left it at “we’ll see” when the fight is over. Maybe it was the one punch knockout or the energy he received from the crowd when the fight was stopped but if Garcia was close to retiring before the fight, afterwards, he seemed further away from it.
“I’m just so happy,” said Garcia. “I’ve done a lot in my career and this is a great way to end it all. 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.“
That last word “yet” is the one that keeps boxers from retiring and at times sticking around too long. We’ve seen it with guys like Julio Cesar Chavez, Roy Jones and others who stayed longer than they had to for one reason or the other. The 37-year-old Garcia made good money throughout his career and has a promising future as a promoter so why still consider gloving up again?
It’s a question only Garcia can answer and lets face it, if he pushed for it, there could be fights for him against guys like WBO junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas, former undisputed champion Jermell Charlo, Keith Thurman or one of the many names at 154. The question then is whether the pay will be enough for him to fight one of those opponents.
On Saturday night, Garcia gave his fans in attendance another thrilling knockout and he has the opportunity to walk away from the sport with that being the lasting image left on their minds. But this is boxing and what will likely happen is that we will see Garcia back in 2026. If we don’t, then Garcia walked away on top and there is no shame in that.
Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.
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