Horacio Garcia: I question Ruben Villa’s heart

The grind of coaching all through the years can take a bodily and psychological toll on most fighters. Even when fighters desire a break after an excruciating struggle or a two-month coaching camp, some hold up their gloves for good.

Horacio Garcia nearly turned a statistic however after spending time away from the game to recharge, mentally and bodily, he’s again within the struggle recreation and wanting to contend at 126 kilos.

Garcia will face former title challenger Ruben Villa tonight at Doubletree Resort, in Ontario, California. The ten-round bout will headline a six-bout “Path to Glory” card (Thompson Boxing Promotions’ Fb and YouTube pages, 11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT).

At Thursday’s weigh-in, Villa weighed in at 126.4 kilos. Garcia weighed 126.7 kilos.

Garcia (35-5-1, 25 knockouts), who resides in Guadalajara, Mexico, was thought-about a fringe contender within the Spring of 2015, having received his first 29 fights as a professional. He misplaced by unanimous determination to Hozumi Hasegawa and to Joseph “JoJo” Diaz over the subsequent 18 months however a call loss to gatekeeper Diuhl Olguin, in July 2017, harm his inventory of ever turning into a legit contender.

The 31-year-old avenged the loss to Olguin and gave Carl Frampton all he might deal with, even dropping Frampton within the seventh spherical, earlier than dropping a detailed unanimous determination in November 2017. Ten months later, Garcia suffered a break up determination loss to Isaac Zarate in a lackluster efficiency.

After the loss to Zarate, Garcia frolicked away from the game, nonetheless maintaining in form by operating in his neighborhood. He would finally make his method again to the fitness center a number of months later, deciding to provide the game one other attempt. Garcia returned to motion on February 18, avenging the loss to Zarate by way of majority determination.

Garcia feels reinvigorated and extra assured and hopes Villa can be at his greatest tonight.

“Issues have been nice,” mentioned Garcia earlier this week. “I used to be given tons of time to arrange for this struggle and I’m able to be in Villa’s face for each minute of each spherical. He higher have skilled onerous for this struggle as a result of I’m coming.

“I’m excited to be preventing on one other Thompson Boxing card as this can be back-to-back outings for me on their platform. I like that Thompson Boxing provides to stream the struggle worldwide. Thompson at all times gives an awesome skilled surroundings to indicate my expertise on their card.”

Garcia will face a fighter in Villa (18-1, 5 KOs), who challenged Emanuel Navarrete for the vacant WBO featherweight title. Regardless of Villa preventing effectively at occasions, Navarrete was the extra correct and stronger fighter all through many of the bout, dropping Villa twice.

Garcia has lengthy been within the enterprise to know Garcia is the home fighter. He understands what he has to decide to and learn how to come out victorious.

“I feel Villa struggles with my fashion of preventing they usually picked the incorrect man to face in his return,” mentioned Garcia, who was skilled by Eddy Reynoso, who presently works with The Ring Journal tremendous middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, WBC flyweight titleholder Julio Cesar Martinez and former heavyweight titlist Andy Ruiz.

“Villa is an efficient boxer however I’m not certain we are able to say he’s an elite professional and even an elite fighter. He has expertise however he’s going to be in a canine struggle and I query his coronary heart.”

A powerful victory over Villa might catapult Garcia towards contender standing. With so much on the road tonight on this crossroads conflict, Garcia envisions extra alternatives coming his method after a decisive victory over Villa.

“Merely put, I’ll take Ruben’s spot within the sport. I wish to take the whole lot he labored for and make it my very own. This can be a large alternative for me and a win will result in larger fights towards some large names [at 126 pounds].”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has coated boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He could be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.