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6 Things About The Danny Garcia-Keith Thurman Showdown

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Boxing experienced a down year in 2016. That promises to change this Saturday night in one of the first major fights of 2017 involves Philadelphia's own Danny "Swift" Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs), the WBC welterweight champion, and Keith "One Time" Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs), the WBA welterweight titlist.

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The fight will be televised nationally Showtime Championship Boxing on CBS from Barclays Center, live at 9:00 pm, ET/6:00 pm, PT.

Related: Danny Garcia Faces Huge Challenge in Keith Thurman

Here's a closer look at each fighter:

Thurman's strengths

Thurman is known for his massive punching power. But he is also a very good boxer, with good feet. His jab serves as a range finder and he doesn't place all of his goods in the knockout basket. In fights when he wasn't able to stop his opponent, he possessed the boxing skills and patience to break those opponents down and win by decision.

Thurman's weaknesses

If there is one blatant weakness, I'm not sure we have found it yet. Let's see what surfaces from the Danny Garcia fight. The fight against Shawn Porter proved that you can rough up Thurman on the ropes, that he is susceptible to counters. Porter made great use of closing the distance using left uppercut leads followed by rights. Here is where Thurman is special: Porter went to that well once too often and Thurman was able to adjust and began picking off Porter as he approached in the second half of the fight.

Garcia's strengths

Garcia's tenacity and ability to reinvent himself. "Swift" is not a puncher. He's not a boxer. He doesn't do any one thing outstandingly well. He adjusts according to opponent, and can even make mid-round switches. Despite his place in the sport, Garcia carries a constant chip on his shoulders, which can be traced back to his amateur days. He was the kid the MC would pass over because he won a walkover bout in the finals. If you don't think that hasn't shaped him through all of these years you're kidding yourself. His most dangerous offensive weapon is that left hook, the same left hook that spelled the end of Amir Khan and caused Lucas Matthysse to respect him. He gets the job done; nothing spectacular.

Garcia's weaknesses

His size at 147. At 140, Garcia was able to both overpower and absorb shots. Here, at 147, it's a completely different ballgame with fierce hitters like Thurman out there. Another fact, which creates a gaping weakness, is that Garcia hasn't fought anyone near the caliber of Thurman in close to four years. The closest any of Garcia's opponents that were in Thurman's vicinity was Matthysse. Since then, it's been one dubious opponent after another, in comparison to Thurman fighting Porter, Luis Collazo and a faded Robert Guerrero.

X-Factor

The determining factor will be Thurman's power. He'll move up and down on Garcia, pounding the body and Garcia may, and most likely will, get drawn into a punch-for-punch power play, which leads to …

Prediction

Thurman wins in what could be a really good fight, possibly by late-round stoppage. Garcia has been in against some of the best in the world, but he's never faced anyone as good as "One Time." Garcia has continuously defied odds, but these odds, against this special fighter, won't be fulfilled. We'll find out Keith Thurman is a very special fighter and Danny Garcia is a very good one who's been able to use every ounce of talent he has to get this far.

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