By Keith Idec

The weigh-in for the Danny Garcia-Keith Thurman fight was as drama-free Friday afternoon as their final press conference Thursday in Manhattan.

Garcia, the WBC world welterweight champion, and Thurman, the WBA world welterweight champion, both made weight for their 147-pound title unification fight Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Garcia weighed in at 146½ pounds Friday at Long Island University’s Paramount Theater in Brooklyn. Thurman weighed in at 146¼ pounds.

The 28-year-old Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC), of Clearwater, Florida, is slightly more than a 2-1 favorite over Philadelphia’s Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) entering a highly anticipated, 12-round bout CBS will televise live in prime time (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

“For me, it’s 21 years in the game, man,” Thurman said following the weigh-in. “This is my dream coming true. I’ve been boxing since I was 7 years old. I put my heart, I put my soul into it. Y’all saw how I fought the last time I was up in this arena, man [against Shawn Porter]. It ain’t easy to take that belt from me. It ain’t easy. And Danny Garcia’s not doing that tomorrow night.”

When asked about his advantages over Garcia, Thurman added, “Everything, baby. It’s everything that makes Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman the fighter that he is – the fact that I can box, I can punch, that I’ve got heart, that I’m gonna out-think my opponent, I’m gonna out-smart my opponent and I’m gonna put more hands on my opponent. That’s what it’s all about.”

Garcia, who’ll turn 29 on March 20, is 5-0 at Barclays Center since the building opened in the fall of 2012.

“I’m a true champion and true champions take on anybody,” Garcia said following the weigh-in. “He’s saying he’s one of the best at welterweight. Well, I feel like I’m the best welterweight in the world. And tomorrow I’m gonna show why I’m one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.”

The unbeaten two-division champion rarely gets the respect he feels deserves, thus Garcia couldn’t care less about being an underdog again.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Garcia said. “It doesn’t matter to me. At the end of the day, it’s a fight. All that underdog and what the media think, and all that, it don’t matter because I know what I could do. And tomorrow I’m gonna win this fight.”

Earlier Friday, junior middleweights Erickson Lubin, of Orlando, Florida, and Mexico’s Jorge Cota made weight for their scheduled 12-round, 154-pound WBC elimination match that’ll open CBS’ broadcast.

The 21-year-old Lubin (17-0, 12 KOs), rated No. 4 in the WBC’s 154-pound rankings, weighed in at 153¾  pounds. The 29-year-old Cota (25-1, 22 KOs), ranked No. 7 by the WBC, also weighed 153¾ pounds.

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