Danny Garcia, who’s been savaged by critics — perhaps a bit unfairly — for not stepping up his recent competition, may have added more fuel to that line of thinking with his latest choice of opponent.

Garcia, who holds the WBC welterweight title, will face Colombian journeyman Samuel Vargas on Nov. 12 from Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Garcia’s hometown of Philly in a PBC on Spike broadcast, it was announced on Wednesday. The bout is a non-title affair for ten rounds and is being viewed as a tune-up for Garcia’s eventual welterweight unification match with Keith Thurman “planned for the first quarter of 2017,” a press release said. A source said Garcia-Thurman is targeted for March.

The Spike broadcast is set up as a triple-header with Delaware’s Omar Douglas (17-0, 12 KOs) against former junior lightweight titleholder Javier Fortuna (30-1-1, 22 KOs) in another fight, as well as impressive junior middleweight Jarrett Hurd (18-0, 12 KOs) also in action against Mexico’s Jorge Cota (25-1, 22 KOs).

Vargas (25-2-1, 13 knockouts) is perhaps best known for his fourth-round stoppage loss at the hands of Errol Spence Jr. in 2015. He has won five straight since then, but the bout is basically designed for Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) to shake off the rust from being inactive since January when he won a decision against Robert Guerrero in preparation for Thurman.

A press conference is scheduled for Thursday in Philly to officially announce the fight and the undercard. Others who will likely appear on the card are: Thomas Velasquez, Jeffrey Torres, Kyrone Davis, Milton Santiago and Antonio Dubose. Garcia plans to unveil a charity partnership he’s involved in at the presser that he plans to showcase during the promotion of the card, according to the release.

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