Danny Garcia, still with electric left hook, drills Gonzalez in 4th round
Former two-division champion returns for his 'Farewell to Brooklyn' but then leaves the door open to perhaps fight again
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Throughout an 18-year career in which Danny Garcia won world titles at junior welterweight and welterweight, faced numerous top opponents, and fashioned a case for Hall of Fame election, his money maker has always been his left hook.
A month after Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, opened in 2012, Garcia headlined the first of the dozens of boxing events the arena has hosted and landed perhaps the best left hook he ever has when he spun around and knocked out Hall of Fame former four-division champion Erik Morales to retain the WBC 140-pound title in their rematch and send him into retirement.
Nearly 13 years later to the day, Garcia’s left hook remains a thing of beauty, which he uncorked to drill Daniel Gonzalez for a fourth-round knockout in their scheduled 10-round junior middleweight bout on Saturday night in the main of event of Garcia’s own Swift Promotions card, which streamed as a pay-per-view on Millions.co, at Barclays Center.
Garcia, who was back in the ring for the first time in 13 months since he moved up to middleweight and took a one-sided ninth-round knockout loss to Erislandy Lara challenging for the WBA middleweight title, said the fight with Gonzalez would be the last of his career.
He titled the event “Farewell to Brooklyn” and upped his record to 8-2 at Barclays Center, his home away from home, where he became a fan favorite and had many of his biggest fights, including wins over Morales, Zab Judah, Lamont Peterson and Paulie Malignaggi while losing outstanding welterweight title fights to Keith Thurman — a split decision in a unification bout many thought Garcia won — and Shawn Porter.
The bookend moments of knocking out Morales all those years ago and Gonzalez were not lost on Garcia.