PHOENIX – The busiest man in boxing is bringing five of his fighters to Saturday’s Top Rank card at Footprint Center, ranging from undeniable prospects to a veteran contender to a recently beaten title finalist.
Because trainer Robert Garcia is the heir apparent to win his second Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year award, his most pressing news was related to his highest-profile fighters, unbeaten junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and WBC interim junior middleweight titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jnr.
Garcia said after efforts to place Rodriguez on the stacked Feb. 22 card in Saudi Arabia failed to generate a bout, WBC champion Rodriguez has his sights aimed at a May 115lbs unification fight against the winner of either the WBA title bout between Fernando Martinez and Kosei Tanaka or the winner of the IBF title bout between Williabaldo Garcia Perez and Rene Calixto Bibiano.
“Whatever champion, whoever’s available,” Garcia said.
As for Ortiz, 22-0 (21 KOs), he was announced as the Feb. 22 opponent for recent WBA junior middleweight titlist Israil Madrimov, who is following his narrow August 3 title loss to four-division champion Terence Crawford with a rugged Dec. 21 test against Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk, who knocked Ortiz down twice in their August 10 bout in Las Vegas.
“I’m surprised, I’m confused,” Garcia said of Madrimov being announced as Ortiz’s foe. “If you’ve got a hard fight like Bohachuk Dec. 21 … to fight two months after against a very tough opponent, it’s really hard to believe that’s going to happen. My only guess is [Madrimov] doesn’t fight Dec. 21 and waits until February. Or, if he does fight Bohachuk, we’re going to have to find someone else.
“I find it very hard to believe he can get through two very hard training camps and be at 100 per cent. … To see those fights lined up is too hard to believe.”
Meanwhile, Garcia has Saturday’s five bouts to corner, including the return of lightweight title contender Giovanni Santillan, who was knocked out by Brian Norman Jnr on May 18 in San Diego, then watched Norman get elevated to full WBO titleholder when Crawford moved up to 154lbs.
Santillan, 32-1 (17 KOs), will come back against Fredrick Lawson, 30-5 (22 KOs), who is reeling from consecutive knockout and stoppage defeats to Ortiz and Alexis Rocha.
“You have to know losing a fight is part of boxing – it’s not the case that you’re done. He lost a fight. Mentally, he’s ready. He had a good camp. I think he’s going to perform,” Garcia said. “It’s not the first or last time a title opportunity gets away. I’ve been through it. The team has. It’s not anything new. It’s now another day at work.”
Junior lightweight Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez, 11-0 (7 KOs), is an elite Garcia prospect at age 22, and he’s expected to shine against a tough Argentine, Gerardo Antonio Perez, on the card.
“The kid is one of the few where I stop to say, ‘This kids’s special,’” Garcia said. “I know when I see the quality to become a champion, and when you have something special. He’s one of the special ones. He has so much discipline. He’ll be in the gym Monday. Great skills. Great motivation. Has full confidence in himself. He has tools, power, defense, speed, everything.”
Mexico’s veteran 140lbs Lindolfo Delgado, 21-0 (15 KOs), is ranked in the top 15 by the WBO, IBF and WBC, but his Saturday bout against Jackson Marinez of the Dominican Republic won’t shoot him up the polls.
“What we need is a big fight, a big name, to see his breakout performance,” Garcias said. “He’s going through fights where he’s not as motivated because he’s just waiting for that big fight, for that moment. He’ll go out there and take care of business. When he gets in the ring against someone who challenges him to bring out the best, that’s when we’ll see the best in him.”
Garcia credits his assistant trainers for helping him navigate such a busy night as Saturday promises to be.
He also will walk in with promising Cesar Morales for his pro debut and Art Barrera Jnr, 6-0 (4 KOs), a 19-year-old welterweight.
“Keep an eye on these kids – they can fight,” Garcia said.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.