Danny Garcia was one pound overweight the last time he arrived at Barclays Center for a weigh-in.

Garcia made the welterweight limit that day for his 12-round fight versus Ivan Redkach in January 2020, but the Philadelphia native knew he wouldn’t be able to fight in the 147-pound division much longer. The former junior welterweight and welterweight champion had no such issue Friday.

The 34-year-old Garcia comfortably made the junior middleweight limit for his 154-pound debut against Jose Benavidez Jr. on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Garcia stepped on the New York State Athletic Commission’s scale at 152¾ pounds.

Benavidez, a Phoenix native, officially weighed 153¾ pounds for their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event.

Caesars Sportsbook listed Garcia as an 8-1 favorite versus Benavidez a day before their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event. The 30-year-old Benavidez (27-1-1, 18 KOs) has lost only to unbeaten WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), but he struggled in his last fight, a 10-round majority draw with Argentinean underdog Francisco Torres (17-4-1, 5 KOs) in a middleweight match November 13 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) will end a 19-month layoff when he battles Benavidez. He hasn’t boxed since Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) beat him by unanimous decision in their December 2020 fight for Spence’s IBF and WBC welterweight titles at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

A few minutes earlier Friday, heavyweight Adam Kownacki came in at his lowest weight in more than five years for his 10-round fight against Turkish contender Ali Eren Demirezen.

Brooklyn’s Kownacki (20-2, 15 KOs) got on the scale at 251¼ pounds, the least the 33-year-old veteran has weighed since he came in at 242 pounds for his career-changing, fourth-round stoppage of fellow Pole Artur Szpilka in July 2015. Demirezen (16-1, 12 KOs), a 2016 Olympian, weighed 262¾ pounds.

Kownacki will try to rejuvenate his career in Showtime’s co-feature following back-to-back, technical-knockout losses to Finland’s Robert Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs).

Prior to Kownacki and Demirezen weighing in, junior welterweights Gary Antuanne Russell and Rances Barthelemy met their contractual obligations for their 10-round opener of Showtime’s telecast (9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).

The 26-year-old Russell (15-0, 15 KOs), a southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, got on the scale at 137¾ pounds. The 36-year-old Barthelemy (29-1-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC), a former IBF lightweight champ from Havana, Cuba, officially weighed 139½ pounds.

The weights for the remainder of the Garcia-Benavidez undercard are listed below.

Showtime Sports’ YouTube channel

7 p.m. ET; 4 p.m. PT

Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-4, 10 KOs), Feodosiya, Ukraine, 159½ pounds vs. Joshua Conley (17-3-1, 11 KOs), San Bernardino, California, 160 pounds, 10 rounds, middleweights.

Vito Mielnicki Jr. (11-1, 7 KOs), Roseland, New Jersey, 153¾ pounds vs. Jimmy Williams (18-8-2, 6 KOs), New Haven, Connecticut, 153 pounds, 8 rounds, junior middleweights.

Non-televised fights

LeShawn Rodriguez (13-0, 10 KOs), Port Jefferson, New York, 154¼ pounds vs. Ismael Villareal (11-0, 7 KOs), Bronx, New York, 153¾ pounds, 8 rounds, junior middleweights.

Ricky Lopez (21-5-1, 6 KOs), Colorado Springs, Colorado, 129½ pounds vs. Joe Perez (16-6-3, 10 KOs), San Diego, 129½ pounds, 6 rounds, junior lightweights.

Junior Younan (16-0-1, 10 KOs), Brooklyn, 168½ pounds vs. Dauren Yeleussinov (10-1-1, 9 KOs), Brooklyn, 166 pounds, 8 rounds, super middleweights.

Miguel Roman (1-0, 0 KOs), Philadelphia, 121¾ pounds vs. Marcus Redd (pro debut), Baltimore, 120½ pounds, 4 rounds, junior featherweights.

Dwyke Flemmings Jr. (1-0, 1 KO), Paterson, New Jersey, 152 pounds vs. Angelo Thompson (0-3), Irvington, New Jersey, 153½ pounds, 4 rounds, junior middleweights.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.