Mainstream's video: Danny Garcia vs Robert Guerrero January 23 BOXING PROMO

Say this much about Danny Garcia’s journey from 140-pound champion to 147-pound contender: He’s not exactly taking the safe route. Less than six months after debuting at 147 with a convincing ninth-round TKO victory over former world champ Paulie Malignaggi, Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) is set to trade blows with another former titleholder when he faces Robert Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) on January 23. The scheduled 12-round showdown headlines a Premier Boxing Champions card from Staples Center in Los Angeles (Fox, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT). Garcia, who fought twice each in 2013 and 2014, continued his two-fight-a-year pace in 2015, first earning a narrow majority-decision win over Lamont Peterson on April 11, then dismantling Malignaggi on August 1. Both bouts took place in Brooklyn, New York, and both were contested at catchweights. The TKO victory over Malignaggi marked just the second stoppage victory in Garcia’s last six bouts. That the 27-year-old Philadelphia native has had to work a little harder of late to maintain his unbeaten record could be traced to the quality of his opponents: In addition to Malignaggi and Lamont Peterson, Garica’s recent résumé includes fights against onetime champs Zab Judah and Eric Morales. In fact, the last seven boxers to enter the ring against Garcia did so with a cumulative professional record of 233-31-1. Now here comes Guerrero, a Mexican-American will become the third straight opponent seeking to notch his 34th victory against Garcia, who is of Puerto Rican descent. Guerrero opened 2015 with a lopsided unanimous-decision loss to top 147-pound contender Keith Thurman on March 7. He returned to the ring three months later, rising from a fourth-round knockdown and barely escaping with a 10-round split-decision win over Aron Martinez. The 32-year-old Guerrero has actually split his last four bouts. However, prior to his 2013 loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., the Gilroy, California, native had won 15 in a row. Guerrero once was a world champ in four separate weight classes (126, 130, 135 and 147), while Garcia won his 140-pound title in March 2012 and successfully defended it five times. From a tale-of-the-tape perspective, this is a dead-even contest, as Garcia holds a slight height advantage (5-foot-8½ vs. 5-foot-8), but Guerrero has the edge in reach (70 inches to 68½ inches). “Guerrero comes to fight, and he’s faced the best in the sport,” Garcia said. “This is a huge opportunity for me to show why I’m a star, and there’s no better place to do that than in Los Angeles, where stars are born.” Said Guerrero: “If there ever was a fight that defined the word ‘war,' it’s this fight. I guarantee this is going to be a historic fight. A Mexican-American vs. a Puerto Rican-American, it's a bitter rivalry. “Danny Garcia is a great champion, and I know we’re going to put on a tremendous show January 23. It’s going to be fireworks—and I can’t wait!”