• Steve Bunce

Garcia a walkover for Khan

Steve Bunce July 12, 2012
Danny Garcia's father has tried to get under Amir Khan's skin © Getty Images
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Danny Garcia, the WBC light-welterweight champion, is very fortunate to be in a unification fight with Amir Khan on Saturday.

He shouldn't have been given the chance to fight for the vacant WBC title against Erik Morales in March - the opportunity should have gone to Ajose Olusegun, and it was a disgrace he didn't get the chance.

Morales isn't a bad fighter, but I do feel that this is an easy one for Amir Khan. There's nothing about Garcia that excites me at all, nothing I see that makes me think he is a terrific fighter.

Look at some of his match-ups: a lucky split decision against Kendall Holt, who had his best days a million years ago, and the same outcome against Ashley Theophane, recently stripped of his British title by Darren Hamilton. Khan would walk through both Holt and Theophane - and I don't mean that disrespectfully.

I watched one of Garcia's fights sitting alongside Khan, in a period when Garcia was talking up a potential fight and Khan was a champion. Khan and I looked at each other and he said, "This guy shouldn't be allowed to fight me." Nothing's changed since then.

What Garcia brings to the table is an unbeaten record, a foul mouth and bigoted father - and that combination sells. On paper it's terrific: Garcia's gobby, unbeaten, a champion. Plus the American press said Khan's defeat to Lamont Peterson was him being shown up at the top level. But if even a half-decent Khan steps in against Garcia, this is going to be a walkover.

This is his easiest fight of the last few. He can make it hard by letting his heart rule his head, which is why Garcia's father has been swearing and screaming, trying to get underneath Khan's skin and give his son a bit of an advantage.

Sadly, I think Garcia Sr could get to Khan. Khan is articulate and clever outside the ring, but sometimes fights like an idiot inside. Don't be at all surprised if Khan gets himself involved in a tear-up.

Let's hope Khan has been mellowed by his experiences against Peterson. He made mistakes in the Peterson fight, but I think the corner need to take a lot of the blame: they should have given him better advice. In the last four or five rounds, they were hopeless.

To get the attention of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Khan has to fight to his ability, somewhere between the Andriy Kotelnik fight and the Paulie Malignaggi fight. If he shows controlled aggression and a bit of savvy, then I think he'll do a job on Garcia here.

For me, Khan wins comfortably on points, or maybe even stops him later in the fight. Garcia is unbeaten and young, which means he'll fight stupid and be too brave for his own good.

And the win will net Khan the big-money Mayweather fight in May 2013, I'm convinced of it.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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Steve Bunce has been ringside in Las Vegas over 50 times, he has been at five Olympics and has been writing about boxing for over 25 years for a variety of national newspapers in Britain, including four which folded! It is possible that his face and voice have appeared on over 60 channels worldwide in a variety of languages - his first novel The Fixer was published in 2010 to no acclaim; amazingly it has been shortlisted for Sports Book of the Year.