Bantamweight Anthony Garnica went from being Andy Ruiz Jnr’s roommate to reuniting with his childhood boxing coach, Alfredo Gopa, in Oakland and hopes this will lead him to making a name for himself in the sport he loves. 

Garnica will face Aston Palicte in an eight-round bantamweight main event on Saturday at Thunder Studios, Long Beach, California. 

Garnica, 12-0-1 (7 KOs), competed most of his professional career at featherweight. When he returned home to Oakland, the 24-year-old Garnica found himself moving down to bantamweight where he hopes to become a contender. Garnica spent years in Los Angeles, training around big-name fighters. 

“I was gone for a little bit and I feel like something was always missing while I was gone,” Garnica told BoxingScene. “Now that I'm back, it finally clicked. I’m back home and where I'm supposed to be.”

Garnica found himself in a unique position in 2019. Before Ruiz’s sensational knockout win over Anthony Joshua, Garnica was Ruiz’s roommate. 

“For his first Joshua fight, we had the same nutritionist, and we both stayed at the nutritionist's house and he gave us a roof, he gave us food, and he was just looking out for us,” Garnica said. “We created a bond and from there, it's history. We just became real close, real good friends.”

Garnica saw first-hand many of Ruiz’s training camps. Garnica was no stranger to big-name fighters. He started at King’s Gym in Oakland, where Andre Ward began his professional career. 

“Seeing how Ruiz came up and just like everybody else gave me more fuel,” Garnica said. “I'm trying to do the same thing he did.”

Garnica returned home and now is the big dog in Gopa Boxing Club, a gym his trainer recently started in the Fruitvale district. Palicte, 28-7-1 (23 KOs), has been stopped in his last three fights. The catch is they have all been to world-class fighters, such as Katsuma Akitsugi, Jose Salas Reyes, and Jason Moloney. Palicte, a 34-year-old from the Philippines, notably fought former titleholder Donnie Nietes to a draw in 2018. Garncia could hope to use this fight as a launching pad for the rest of his career while being modest about his professional career so far. 

"I haven't accomplished really big things yet, so I always stay grounded, and stay humble,” Garnica said. “I know my time will come.”