Ahead of the welterweight matchup for the ages where former world champions Danny “Swift” Garcia and “Showtime” Shawn Porter will battle September 8th in the Barclays Center, SHOWTIME Reporter Jim Gray sat down with the father-trainers of the two warriors.
In the segment, both Angel Garcia and Kenny Porter, respective father-trainers to their children, reflect on the boxing business, the lack of funding and respect for the amateur system and how this was never about money for them as former fighters who never became world champions.
Angel Garcia & Kenny Porter with Jim Gray | SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
Angel Garcia and Kenny Porter sit down with Jim Gray to discuss what it means to be fathers and trainers to their sons. Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter will headline a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING main event, which will pit two of the division’s biggest names against each other as former 147-pound champions – live Saturday, Sept.
As a dad, I have to separate the boxing, Angel Garcia said. So when Dannys in there Ive got to look at him as a coach. I cant look at it as a dad.
Angel Garcia was a controversial figure during the promo leading up to Thurman vs. Garcia which was held May 4th, 2017 in the Barclays Center. During the final press conference, the passionate father used racial slurs that depending on how you look at his Puerto Rican heritage was mere slang or dangerously laced verbiage.
“I’m a man I’ll accept my faults. I’m not perfect,” said the elder Garcia. “The Thurman fight there was a lot of politics. They were calling me racist, I’m not racist man (laughs) that’s the last thing about me is being a racist. I regret the things I said during the Thurman fight; all hell broke loose and I couldn’t be focused that week of the fight. I do regret that day, yes.”
Both Garcia and Kenny Porter met years earlier in the U.S. Olympic Trials system where Porter has served as a coach in the past incubating great talents like Errol Spence, Jr., Rau’shee Warren and Deontay Wilder. The two have also tasted leather before as boxers and Porter having also competed in other combat sports.
As a former boxer, I felt what its like to be in that ring So I feel differently when hes in the ring,” said Kenny Porter. “I have a more competitive spirit towards winning than maybe someone whos kid is in there and theyre looking at whether the kid is getting injured. Im looking at it like, lets win.
During the interview, Porter and Garcia open up about challenges, regrets and the aspirations theyve carried for their progeny both in the ring and outside of it but keep it cordial and respectful, unlike past Angel Garcia media opportunities.
I do [have regrets], Angel Garcia said. I said my faults. Im not perfect. I’m the most underrated trainer in boxing today, and Danny the most underrated fighter.
At the end of the interview, Kenny Porter provided some true fight hype when he unveiled a Danny Garcia signature DSG T-shirt that had new words emblazoned over the interlocked DSG: Showtime Destroys Garcia.
This level of camaraderie both fathers have for each other while sharing a big laugh is indicative of not only their reverence for each other having circled the wagons while their kids fought up the ladder, but also of the seriousness that they are taking the September 8th showdown which will get the world closer to knowing who truly is the best welterweight on the planet..
