Danny Garcia‘s upcoming fight could be the last time he laces up his boxing gloves. He will be going up against WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara on September 14 as the co-main event on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga fight card. He wants to become a three-division champion, and the Lara fight could be the crowning moment of his stellar legacy. However, it is important to note that he is coming into the Erislandy Lara fight after a two-year hiatus. He last fought against Jose Benavidez Jr. in July 2022.

Since Garcia’s loss to former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in 2020, he only fought once in the last four years. The reason behind fighting so sparingly is the fact that he is prioritizing his mental health over the fight game. Safe to say, he wants to retire from boxing with his physical and mental health intact so that life after ‘sweet science’ is smooth sailing, spending quality time with his family, because he is a family man through and through. This trait was passed on to him by his parents. On that note, let’s explore Garcia’s deep-rooted familial bond and its effect on his professional career.

Meet Angel Garcia, Danny Garcia’s father and trainer

It was Angel Garcia’s vision to mold his son Danny Óscar Garcia into an elite boxer, and he succeeded with flying colors. Danny’s father had humble beginnings, being born to a family of farmers in Puerto Rico.“In the 1960s and ’70s, American companies would fly Puerto Ricans here to be apple pickers and stuff. In North Philly, they had the blueberry bus at 3:30 a.m. That’s what my family did,” Angel recalled in an interview with the Sporting News. Following his parents’ divorce, Angel Garcia, along with his siblings and mother, followed their uncle to the U.S. mainland, settling in Philadelphia, home to the second-largest Puerto Rican community in the country.

As a child growing up in Philadephia, Angel Garcia was subjected to rampant racism. He and his family were made fun of as they were poor, and also because they couldn’t speak English properly. “I remember the girls in my class wanting to touch my hair. They said I had dog hair. Or they would make fun of my poor clothes. My mom used to whisper because she didn’t speak English well. People would yell, ‘Speak English!’ whenever she spoke. The racism was real, man,” Angel recounted.

Nevertheless, he dropped out of school at the age of seventeen to provide for his family. He started working at a factory, spraying clothes at minimum wage to help his family out. Furthermore, after the birth of his two sons, Erick and Danny, he worked two other odd jobs—selling ice cream and peddling coc**ne. Pointing out that he had to become a drug dealer out of desperation, he said, “Hey, I did what I had to do. My kids ate. That’s what matters to me.”

Simultaneously, Angel’s other passion that was handed down from his family would be his one-way ticket out of his current life. With a love for boxing inculcated in him at a very early age, Angel Garcia, along with his brother, trained in the sport. While his brother and brother-in-law went on to have respectable amateur careers, Angel Garcia’s boxing dream was cut short due to asthma. However, later, Garcia Sr transitioned into a boxing trainer and when Danny was born, he decided to pass on his learnings to him so his son could live the dream he could not.

Danny Garcia had a knack for the sport. He started training with his father at the age of eight. At 10, his father took him to the Harrowgate Boxing Club in Philadelphia, where he began his tryst with the sweet science. After that, the duo never looked back.

Apart from brief periods of separation due to Angel’s 2-year prison sentence in 1998 due to his drug dealing background, and his subsequent remission from throat cancer when he couldn’t be in Danny’s corner, the duo has been together as Danny Garcia rose through the ranks in his boxing career. Under his father’s mentorship, Danny Garcia has had a stellar amateur record of 107-13 and won the Philadelphia Golden Gloves tournament and the National Junior Olympics.

Now, apart from being a trainer at his Philadelphia gym, Angel Garcia also takes care of six rental properties that include a car wash, a car shop, a clothing store, a music studio, and a barbershop. Furthermore, the no-nonsense Angel Garcia tirelessly crusades to ensure that Danny gets the respect he deserves in boxing, often coming across as brash and insensitive to fellow boxers, trainers, or promoters. “God gave me the gift of training. Why did God save my voice (his recovery from throat cancer)? Because I’m Danny’s voice. He’s so humble and quiet, I needed to be that person for him,” Angel Garcia once stated.

Angel Garcia is a family man and will go to any lengths to support people who rely on him.“I try to focus on me, because if I’m not healthy, I can’t help anyone else. Your roots are your family. You can’t let the world beat you over the head. As the root of this family, I have to be strong,” he said confidently.

However, the familial support for Danny Garcia isn’t only restricted to his father. His mother isn’t far behind in her drive to see her son succeed. But, her son’s safety is priority number one for her. Unfortunately, that can’t be helped in the brutal sport of boxing.

All we know about Danny Garcia’s mother

Danny Garcia’s mother Maritza Garcia, who also hails from Puerto Rico, has been to all of his fights. But, it pains her to see her son box, worried that he might get hurt badly in his fights. “Being a mother of a boxer is extremely nerve-wracking, even though I’m really proud of him and wish him the best, it tears me apart to see my son box,” she once told Business Insider.

Nevertheless, she is “extremely proud” of her son as she considers him to be very hardworking. “Danny always works hard. To me, it’s about the same, but he tries to work harder for every fight,” she stated.

Maritza prefers to stay out of the limelight but provides the much-needed love, care, and nurturing that Danny Garcia needs to thrive in the professional boxing circuit.

For someone who values his family deeply, it will be interesting to see how Danny Garcia’s parents react if he becomes a three-division champion by defeating Erislandy Lara in his upcoming fight. Even if he doesn’t, Garcia has already built an impressive legacy and could retire comfortably, without any regrets.