In September, Danny Garcia will face Erislandy Lara. In his 14th fight in Las Vegas, Garcia takes some time to talk about the past two years off, why he doesn’t expect much rest in the ring, and why this fight was the right one for him at this point in his career. Check out some of what he had to say below.

Garcia on why he doesn’t believe the long layoff will affect him in the ring

“I was inactive, but I always focused on the game. I’m always watching boxing, I’m always training, I’m always giving advice to youthful guys, I’m always a mentor, so I feel like even sometimes when you’re not energetic, but your head is in the game and you’re still following the sport, you’re still learning, you’re still participating in it.

“As far as being inactive, it wasn’t by choice. Boxing changed when Showtime stopped doing boxing, so I just had to sit back and wait my turn, and that’s what it was.

If he sees something in Lara that will make him want this fight

“I definitely feel like I can beat him, I know I can beat him. I feel like I could beat anyone if my mind is 100% and I’m physically ready. But I felt it was an effortless fight to finish. I want to be world champion in three divisions and I didn’t want to wait years for politics to get in the way or something… At that point it could have been anyone, but he was the perfect person at 160 years ancient who was a champion that no one really knew he came to fight at 160 pounds, so who better than Danny Garcia. So I felt like the fight made sense.”

How his counter-attacking style fits someone like Lara

“You can definitely counter a counter attacker. You just need to have the right technique, know when to throw, when to pull him in, when to give him something to react and then you can come back. There are definitely ways to counter the guy who’s waiting, but the most crucial thing for me in this fight is just being myself. Get in there, have fun, get out first, don’t wait, try not to make a lot of mistakes because he’s the type of player that if you make mistakes, he’ll try to make you pay for it.

“He’s a crafty guy, he sticks to the game plan, he doesn’t take any risks, so I’ve got to go in there and fight shrewd, take the punches and just keep winning round by round.”

Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya immediately reacted to Vergil Ortiz’s majority decision win over Serheii Bohachuk, and while he thinks it was a close fight, he still believes Ortiz deserved the win. Check out what he had to say below.

De La Hoya on the Bohachuk vs Ortiz fight

“I said it would be the fight of the year and it was the fight of the year. Come on, it was a war. It was a fierce fight. Vergil attacked all night long. Bohachuk obviously deserves all the credit in the world, but Vergil won.

“He was pushing for the fight…Vergil Ortiz was pushing all night, he was fighting all night against tough, tough Bohachuk…I felt like Vergil won.”

On if he expects Ortiz to go straight to the Crawford fight next

“We will talk about it. We’ve just discussed this with Your Excellency, and if that’s what Vergil wants, that’s what we’ll give him.

On whether there should be a rematch between Ortiz and Bohachuk

“Vergil is in the hospital, Bohachuk is in the hospital. Let’s respect that, and when they get better, we’ll talk about it again and make something happen.

“Listen, they’re both fine, thank God. Both of them are fine, they are injured – it’s literally like in the movie Rocky, Apollo Creed and Sylvester Stallone in the hospital, a strenuous fight. Let’s give them a rest and then we’ll reconvene.”

Serheii Bohachuk’s representative, Tom Loeffler, immediately reacts to Vergil Ortiz’s majority decision victory after a very close and competitive fight. From Loeffler’s perspective, it is almost inconceivable that Bohachuk would be given a shorter card on the official card, believing that Bohachuk’s knockdowns clearly give him an advantage in the fight. Check out some of what he had to say below.

Loeffler on her reaction to Ortiz’s decision in the Bohachuk case

“It was crazy. Two knockouts – it’s all Vergil’s credit, nothing can be taken away from him, he’s a fighter – but Serheii Bohachuk didn’t lose this fight. He’s the champion, he came in after being knocked down twice, Vergil’s face was all bruised and he somehow came out the loser. One of the judges decided it was a draw. I don’t know what he had to do to win the round, to win the round where he didn’t get knocked out.

“They changed (the first knockdown) correctly, but judging, I don’t know what the judges saw.”

On if it feels the same as Golovkin vs. Canelo

“I really feel like GGG has happened again… It’s not right. You come in as a champion, he fights with all his heart, he fights for his country, he gets knocked down twice and he still loses the title.

Bohachuk was not expected to get a rematch with Ortiz right away

“It’s a credit to His Excellency, he was impressed with both fighters, they both deserve to continue to fight substantial, so he’s going to put Serheii in one of his substantial performances.”

On whether he believes Bohachuk has definitely won the fight

“I thought he won. Again, if there were no knockdowns, maybe it would have been 6-6 or whatever it was – and again, I’m not taking anything away from Vergil, Vergil had a great fight – but look at his face. Serheii landed more punches. You could say that Vergil was throwing harder punches, but Seheii was throwing more punches and Vergil’s face was all bruised.