By Luis Sandoval
2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia ended his year on a high note as his fighter Marcos Maidana scored a major upset over former WBA Welterweight champion Adrien Broner. Garcia has had a good year but no victory was as big as the one Saturday night.
Maidana-Broner has been the talk of the boxing community with everyone having their own take on Broner’s performance and how he will be able to bounce back. When BoxingScene and ESNEWS spoke to Garcia after the fight, he stated he felt Broner could still be great but feels he may have been pushed into this fight prematurely.
“[He’s a] very talented fighter and one loss is nothing. He's very young, he's only 23. He could always come back and become champion again and be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world in the future. That's still possible. I think it was too soon for him. I think he has so much talent, so much that he was talking that he forced his handlers to push him too fast. I think fighting Maidana is the worst thing they could've done” said Garcia.
It was no secret this was to be Broner’s toughest test of his career. After his split decision victory over Paulie Malignaggi in June, Broner confidently let the fans pick his next opponent and made good on his promise as he signed up to fight Maidana. While he satisfied the fans’ request, Broner ended up with his first professional loss and now has an uphill battle to return back to the top of the standings.
Garcia has had some significant wins this year and was asked if this victory was the biggest and one of the most important of his career as a trainer.
“Just the fact that we had an opponent that was ranked pound for pound one of the best [and] that everyone thinks is going to be the next Mayweather and that he was going to destroy Chino - it’s a beautiful win” Garcia would tell BoxingScene.
While the win is certainly huge, Garcia also pointed out “Mexican Russian” Evgeny Gradovich’s win over Billy Dib to capture his first world title and also Mikey Garcia’s victory over Rocky Martinez which gave him his second title in a second division were also huge victories for him.
While the Maidana win may or may not help Garcia get Trainer of the Year for 2013, it’s a victory he and his fighter will definitely enjoy regardless.
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter & Instagram at Truewest007.