by David P. Greisman

Golden Boy Promotions Vice President Eric Gomez stood behind Danny Garcia, both literally and figuratively, cutting in as reporters questioned Garcia following the 140-pound champion’s easy and brutal knockout of the overmatched Rod Salka.

“Danny’s about beating the top guys, fighting the top guys. He’s always fought the top guys,” Gomez said when Garcia was asked about future opponents.

What, then, was the Salka bout, Gomez was asked.

“Hey!” he responded. “When Danny beat Lucas Matthysse, they cleaned out the division. Who else is there to beat? Who else is there to beat?”

There of course is a potential bout with Lamont Peterson, who has rebounded from his third-round stoppage loss to Lucas Matthysse last year with a pair of wins, first over Dierry Jean earlier in 2014 and then over Edgar Santana this past Saturday.

Peterson-Santana was on the undercard of Garcia-Salka, a bout that many had criticized as a woeful mismatch from the outset.

Gomez was asked why the Salka fight was not a mismatch.

“Because Salka earned the shot,” Gomez said before walking away. He later chatted further with BoxingScene.com.

BoxingScene.com: You said Rod Salka earned the fight. With what?

Gomez: “He’s a tough kid. He deserves it.”

BoxingScene.com: But do you understand why a lot of people were questioning this fight as a mismatch given his lack of a track record at 140?

Gomez: “When you have Danny Garcia, who pretty much ran through the division, Lucas Matthysse who ran through the division. They cleaned out the division. The two top guys fought each other. Danny Garcia fought against Lucas Matthysse, right? A lot of you guys didn’t think that fight was going to happen. They fought each other. There was a winner. There’s one top guy.”

BoxingScene.com: But that’s a non sequitur to the question of Rod Salka. If we look through the rankings at 140, Rod Salka’s not even in the top 15.

Gomez: “What rankings do you go through?”

BoxingScene.com: If we go through any rankings…

Gomez: “What rankings, though? … There are six different rankings.”

BoxingScene.com: What did Rod Salka do at 140, in your mind?

Gomez: “You know what, he deserved this title, he deserved the chance to fight.”

BoxingScene.com: This result was something that a lot of people figured would happen. They predicted that it was going to be a whitewash, and it turned out to be the whitewash that people were predicting. I like Rod Salka, but his track record at 130 wouldn’t be for a title shot there. His track record at 135 wouldn’t be for a title shot there. His track record at 140 wouldn’t be for a title shot, never mind a shot at THE guy.

Gomez: “What do you mean? What do you mean?”

BoxingScene.com: What don’t you understand?

Gomez: “What you said.”

BoxingScene.com: So Salka’s track record at 130…

Gomez then walked away again.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com