Forgotten Warriors: Alejandro Garcia

[BoztheMadman]

Also known as Alejandro Garcia Hernandez. Garcia was a true warrior and a puncher who always went in there to slug it out and always tried to knock out his opponent. He often succeeded, but also suffered his share of knockout losses, especially in the latter stage of his career. Most amazing of all, which witnesses of the size of his "cojones", was the fact that the 5'8 and half Garcia came back for one more fight in 2020-at HEAVYWEIGHT! That didn't go very well. But before we get there, let's take a look at his entire career! Vamos! :boxing:

 

Garcia is a native of Tijuana, Mexico, that border town which was always full of crime and trouble, but which gave us greats like Erik Morales. He was born on 18 July 1979 in Tijuana and lives there still. He turned pro in February 2000, at the age of 20. His first fight was at 168 and he won it by a KO 1. His power was so impressive that it garnered him 20 straight knockouts, 6 in the first round, before he got noticed by the big players and given a chance to win the WBA super welter title. Before that, he had won the WBO NABO one. He faced off against Santiago Samaniego from Panama City, who had won the interim WBA title in his previous fight by stopping Mamadou Thiam. Samaniego was surely a solid boxer, but would prove no match for Garcia, who stopped him in 3 rounds by TKO, 1 March 2003 in Las Vegas. Samaniego was down once in the third before the fight was stopped. Garcia, nicknamed "Terra(Earth)" thus introduced himself to the boxing world in the most impressive manner. He made his first defense on 20 September same year, at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, fighting the 17-0-2 Rhoshii Wells, the 1996 Olympic bronze medallist and a highly touted fighter at the time. Wells was therefore favored to win, but Garcia gave him a beating and put him down in the tenth, before the referee stopped the fight following that round.

 

It seemed like things were really going well for Garcia and that he was headed towards a major fight. But, before that could happen, he took on the dark horse-the talented and hard-hitting Travis Simms. They fought on 13 December, the last fight of 2003 for Garcia, and after 4 rounds Simms was ahead on 2 cards while the third was even. It was then that Garcia got unlucky; after the referee separated the fighters from a clinch, Garcia forgot to put his hands up immediately and was then hit by a brutal left hook which put him on his back and unable to beat the count. Quite a way to lose your world title. Unfortunately, Simms refused to give Garcia a rematch despite this slight controversy and was then stripped by WBA. After stopping Jonathan Corn in 2004, Garcia faced Rhoshii Wells next year on 21 May at United Center in Chicago, for the interim version of the WBA belt. It was a competitive fight, but again, Garcia got the better of Wells in the end and stopped him by a TKO 9. He then faced the Italian contender Luca Messi for the full WBA title on 13 August, same place as last fight. It was a very exciting and fast paced bout and Messi was down once in round seven but took the fight to Garcia all the way. In the end, Garcia was the winner by wide scores and thus a true champion again.

 

But like the last time, his reign wouldn't last very long. In his very first defense as the full champion, he fought the slick Puerto Rican Jose Antonio Rivera, former welterweight world champion, and was put down five times and managed to score one knockdown himself, but lost clearly on all scorecards, 6 May 2006 in Worcester, Massachusetts. This would prove to be the end of his prime, at only 27. He was away from the ring for over 17 months before coming back on 23 November and fighting Roman Karmazin, then a major player in the division, in a fight for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental title. Garcia was down in the first round from a left hook to the body and in the third he was knocked out with a body-head combination. In June 2008, he was knocked out by the older Luis Ramon Campas in 1 round, showing just how much his skills had deteriorated, as well as his punch resistance. He continued fighting as a middleweight for a while, first drawing against Jose Luis Zertuche, before losing by a corner retirement in 6 against Miguel Angel Espino on 21 March 2009-Espino would then go on to challenge Kelly Pavlik for his WBC and WBO titles, getting stopped in 5. Garcia retired after this fight, just before turning 30, but as mentioned above, he came back-as a heavyweight! More than 11 years after his last fight, on 21 November 2020, he faced Roberto Thomas White in Fort Mill, USA and came in weighing 116 kilos or 256 pounds, but his opponent still outweighed him at 119 kilos or 263 and a half. He was knocked out in 1 round and hopefully, has now retired for good. His record stands at 26 wins, 24 by ko, 6 losses and 1 draw.

 

During his first retirement, between 2016 and 2017, Garcia worked as a referee in Mexico and still works as boxing inspector. He was a guy that came literally out of nowhere, managed to win the big prize a couple times thanks to his punching power, ferocity and toughness, but didn't have enough talent to stay on top very long, obviously. He was usually in entertaining fights and always came to slug it out-that is why Alejandro Garcia is...A FORGOTTEN WARRIOR!