Garcia survives to retain title

[Mofo2]

Unified junior welterweight world champion Danny Garcia had already blazed his way through many of the top names in the 140-pound division: Lucas Matthysse, Zab Judah, Amir Khan and Erik Morales twice.

The little-known Mauricio Herrera has nowhere near the profile or accomplishments of any of those guys, so perhaps Garcia was taking him a little bit for granted. And perhaps Garcia's first fight in Puerto Rico, where he wanted to make a big impression because his parents were born there and he still has family there, was a bit of a distraction.

Whatever Garcia's issues were - not to mention that the unheralded Herrera was prepared to a tee - led to a very difficult fight for Garcia, who hung onto his belts with a majority decision victory on Saturday night at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, and then talked of a possible move up to welterweight.

The fight was perhaps the toughest Garcia has had in his eight-year professional career. He had all kinds of problems with Herrera's awkward style, but pulled out the decision 116-112, 116-112 and 114-114 as he retained his 140-pound title for the fifth time