Danny Garcia is scheduled to return to the ring in September. 14. Canelo Alvarez fights with Edgar Berlanga, in which he will face Erislandy Lara for the WBA title. During yesterday’s kickoff press conference that officially announced the fight, Garcia talked about his long layoff to get back down to 160 pounds.

“I didn’t have a two-year break because I wanted to,” Garcia said. “Boxing changed and I just sat back and waited for my chance. It is known that the fight was supposed to take place a year ago in August, but it did not take place. This is the fight I planned and wanted. Lara has something I want, which is a title, and I am a name – he wants my name, I want his title, and that makes sense. I’m trying to make history.

“Boxing is, above all, mentality. You can do whatever comes to your mind. If you feel like you can’t do it, it’s probably because you can’t do it. But mentally I know I can do anything I put my mind to and I never back down from any challenge. It’s only the weight, what counts in boxing is skill and will. At the end of the day, when you’re tired and you’re getting to the championship rounds, it’s all about who has the most will to fight and can box, but everyone knows Danny Garcia can fight.”

Watch the video of the full opening press conference in the link at the top.

Those who are not satisfied with the double whammy of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga and Erislanda Lara vs. Danny Garcia on September 14 will not get the cavalry they wanted as organizers have announced that Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby and Rolly Romero vs. Manuel Jaimes will be joining the fight . PPV with four fights.

Plant (22-2, 13 KO) and McCumby (28-0, 21 KO) were scheduled to face each other in two Saturdays before McCumby was injured less than a week after the fight was revealed. An extra month of marinating is not enough to make it tasty; Plant remains one of the best at 168, especially after Davids’ departure, while McCumby has no notable wins.

For added humor, the winner will become the WBA interim champion, even though both men are ranked in the bottom half of the top ten. Crowning an interim champion on the same night and their mandatory challenger fight for the real title is classic WBA tomfoolery.

At least we did these clips of Ahmed Elbiali trying to jump over Plant and getting pushed by the “Sweet Hands” crew.

“It’s good to be back. I had some time away from the ring, but I used it wisely,” Plant said. “I have been going to the gym since June last year. I went over 220 rounds last year and leading up to this fight, so I feel sharper than ever. I’m smoothing out the edges of my game and it’s the best game I’ve ever seen and the most complete I’ve ever made, and I think that says a lot about what I have in me to prove. I guarantee that on September 14th you will see the best Caleb Plant yet. All I can say is I’m going to kick his ass.

“Sports reflect life and I see Caleb Plant as a symbol of those who hold so many back, and now it’s my job to fight back,” McCumby said. “No matter what resources you employ against me, I will not be stopped. I am inspired by all those who resist and I will bring that mentality into this fight on September 14.

Former super lightweight champion Romero (15-2, 13 KO) is 1-2 in his last three fights, a false “finish” for Ismael Barroso sandwiched between brutal defeats at the hands of Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz. He has much lighter contact with Jaimes (16-1-1, 11 KO), a club fighter from Stockton, whose first appearance is to take place in a ten-round fight.

I repeat: this is exactly what PBC is up against against UFC 306, which will be headlined by a fascinating fight between electric sniper Sean O’Malley and inhuman grappling machine Merab Dvalishvili. This doesn’t strike me as a particularly lucrative lineup.

Following Terence Crawford’s unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov to capture the junior middleweight title over the weekend, Crawford appeared at the post-fight press conference to share his impressions of the fight. Below are some excerpts from what Crawford had to say about the Madrimov fight.

Crawford on fighting at 154 pounds

“I felt great. Honestly, it was no different than fighting at 147 pounds. Israel was just a robust opponent and we knew that going into the goal.”

How he would compare Madrimov’s power to Errol Spence’s

“I don’t know, they have their moments. They were both very robust, but Madrimov was robust.”

On dealing with Madrimov’s persistent feints

“It wasn’t like he was bothering me or anything, it was just his patience. He was patient. He waited, deceived, deceived, deceived and simply deceived until he came a little closer, a little closer. So he was just really patient, he didn’t rush anything, he didn’t shoot wildly from the wing like we usually saw him do in previous fights. He was very disciplined.”

On why he didn’t fight more in the orthodox stance since Madrimov managed to land a straight right

“You know, my right hand didn’t bother me. I wasn’t too worried about my right hand. He landed a few times at the end of the round, trying to steal the round, but I just tried to counter him, but at the same time, he had a good game plan, he had a lot of feints, and I was just trying to dictate when he was going to come. I was wrong many times.”

He, if saw a lot of himself in Madrimov’s performance

– No, I won’t say all this because I touched him with a stab. “I think my jab was beating him the entire fight, but he landed a couple of right hands that had the judges and the fans going ‘aww,’ but it wasn’t anything I had never seen before.”