Danny Garcia, Robert Guerrero eye welterweight title as trainer dads nearly come to blows

LOS ANGELES - The Conga Room at LA Live wasn't big enough for Danny Garcia and Robert Guerrero for their final news conference Thursday before their welterweight title fight on Fox TV on Saturday night at Staples Center. And the temperature in the room? Hot and steamy.

Garcia and Guerrero nearly came to blows before and during the news conference.

No, no, not Danny and Robert. These soft-spoken but battle-hardened fighters do their talking in the ring.

This dust-up involved Angel Garcia and Ruben Guerrero, the fathers, trainers and big-mouthpieces of the fighters.

And boy, do these guys have mouths on them. The 50-something trainer dads livened up the affair, hurling insults and invectives, mixing in salty language and slurs about their heritages (Guerrero is Mexican, and Garcia is Puerto Rican). The two had to be pulled apart.

In all fairness, Ruben Guerrero walked into the press conference looking for a fight. But Garcia, a cancer survivor who has let his mouth run amok in the past, was not backing down.

"He's not serious about this, but I am," said Ruben, a former professional fighter who went 0-7 in his career in the 1980s. "He wants to act like he is, but he's not. They ought to let us go for a round, but then they'll have to stop it because I'll hurt him. I will hurt him."

Angel Garcia says Saturday's fight is all that matters. "(Ruben) is going to remember Jan. 23 for the rest of his life. It's going to be his new new year."

Asked if his father embarrassed him, Robert Guerrero said, "Nah, there's some people you just can't change. My father gets a little hot and on the defense when it comes to his children. And that's the way fathers react most of the time."

Well, not all fathers and not quite that way.

Danny Garcia says he has not felt this fired up in a long time. "I want to thank Ruben for making me feel that way, because he's just awakened the devil."

The real news surrounding this fight, however, is the vacant World Boxing Council welterweight title belt up for grabs.

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The belt once held by now-retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. is there for the taking for Garcia, who has fought only once at the weight after moving up from junior welterweight, where he held the WBC and WBA belts for more than two years.

It's also there for Guerrero, 32, who has lost two of his last four fights, albeit against unbeaten superstars Mayweather and Keith Thurman. He is one of three fighters to win titles at 126 and 147 pounds.

The winner of this fight is mandated by the WBC to fight Amir Khan next. Garcia knocked out Khan in the fourth round in 2012, and Angel Garcia said it wouldn't make sense for the two to fight again. But if Garcia doesn't give Khan his shot, he will be stripped of the title, should he beat Guerrero.

A few weeks ago, before the title fight was announced, Garcia, 27, talked to Paste BN Sports about the wide-open welterweight division.

"It's a great division, and I'm excited about future matchups. But first I have to worry about Robert Guerrero," Garcia said. "I know he's coming to fight, so I've prepared myself for that, and then after that it's whatever, you know? I want to be a champion again."

The unbeaten Philadelphian might not have to wait long.

"This is another fight that is going to make me a bigger star," Garcia said Wednesday. "Come Saturday night, I will be at my best."

Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) feels best at 147, relishing his move up from 140, where he had struggled to make weight and nearly lost his last title fight to Mauricio Herrera last March, partly because he was weakened from trying to cut weight close to the fight.

"I feel a lot better. I'm happier now. When I fought at 140, I was always mean while trying to cut weight. I was never in a good mood," he said during a recent conference call.

"Now I'm able to think more, I'm able to be a lot smarter. My punches are crispier, and my stamina is better."

Garcia couldn't be happier to be selected for the inaugural PBC on Fox broadcast, the first time Fox has aired live boxing in nearly 20 years.

"I feel blessed. It's an opportunity for me to kick off the year in nice fashion, and to be in the first big fight of the year in the headliner," Garcia said. "I can't wait to get in there and showcase my skills."

Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) was in the first PBC fight last March, losing to Thurman but giving the fans watching on NBC their money's worth.

"Having the world title on the line just adds fuel to the fire," he said. "We'll find out Saturday night how it all plays out."

(Top photo of Angel Garcia, far left, sticking out his tongue, Ruben Guerrero, in white hat, and an amused Robert Guerrero, far right, by Suzanne Teresa, PBC)