It was while on a training run that Hector Luis Garcia received a phone call that would change his life.
Garcia, from the Dominican Republic, announced this week on social media that he has retired from boxing, marking the end of an improbable underdog story.
Garcia finished his career with a record of 16-2 (10 KOs). As a professional, he trained with Robert Garcia for a period before a magical run with trainer Bob Santos, which led to him fighting Gervonta Davis on pay-per-view in 2023. Initially, Santos remembers often taking Garcia out to eat because he felt bad for him and didn’t know when he’d fight next after Garcia originally moved to Las Vegas. That would change with a phone call when he asked if Garcia, 33, could be ready to fight Chris Colbert on 19 days’ notice.
“I remember talking to Hector, and all of his boxing friends told him, ‘Don’t take the fight,’” Santos told BoxingScene. “He asked me, ‘What do you think, coach?’ And I said, ‘We can do it.’”
Santos jokingly recalled taking Garcia to eat his first pastrami sandwich and he soon wished he had put Garcia on a diet as soon as he got to Las Vegas. Garcia closed as a +1500 underdog heading into the Colbert fight, which he won by unanimous decision.
“The gamble paid off,” Santos said. “And it changed his life.”
Garcia went on to defeat Roger Gutierrez to claim the WBA junior lightweight title and then moved up to lightweight to fight Davis, who stopped him in the ninth round. Then Garcia lost a split decision to Lamont Roach Jnr in November of the same year, and with it dropped his junior lightweight title. Garcia had been scheduled to return to the ring on Saturday against Carlos Beras before announcing his retirement.
“We caught lightning in the bottle,” Santos said. “That was one of my greatest moments in boxing, to take a guy that big of an underdog and win the fight.”
Garcia, a 2016 Dominican Olympian, had flown under the radar for his whole career up until that point.
“If you look at Hector, nothing pops out with the eyeball test,” Santos said. “One thing he did have if you got him focused and determined, he had a good ability with his distance and timing.”
Santos said Garcia was one of his finest coaching achievements, fighting and winning as such an underdog on short notice.
“It is one fight I will never forget,” Santos said. “I told him to shut down the phone and not talk to anyone [beforehand]. It is one of the greatest memories I will ever have in boxing. It was two guys [Garcia and Santos] having their backs against the wall.”
Garcia would have an improbable 2022 in which he was in contention for being the Fighter of the Year. Just a year later, he’d lose two fights and never box again.
“He had a great run,” Santos surmised. “He was an Olympian, became a world champion, did a pay-per-view with Gervonta Davis, made a lot of money for him and his family. He checked all the boxes.”
