As returning trainer of the year, Robert Garcia is doing all he can to earn a repeat honor through the success of his fighters – the latest example being Vergil Ortiz Jnr’s second-round destruction of former title challenger Erickson Lubin Saturday night in Texas.
What additionally caught the eyes of many was that instead of rushing to celebrate with his fighter over the knockout, former world champion Garcia charged up to the ring carrying a stool to let the barely conscious Lubin rest and gather his wits.
“He was still out,” Garcia explained Saturday night after the bout.
The gesture was no surprise to those who know Garcia, including his colleagues on ProBoxTV, former world champions Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi, who discussed the bout and Garcia’s heroics on BoxingScene Today.
Host Jimmy Smith told the audience he’d texted with Garcia afterward, and the trainer replied, “My No. 1 goal is everyone going home safely at the end of the day.”
Algieri, the former 140lbs champion who formerly trained under Garcia, said “this doesn’t surprise me in the slightest given how much he cares about fighters and his mentality – class is the right term.”
Garcia, a former super-featherweight champion and brother of former four-division champion Mikey Garcia, has the sport’s most impressive stable, featuring super-flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla and contenders Oscar Duarte, Raul Curiel and Jose Ramirez in Moreno Valley, California.
With Ortiz celebrating on the ropes on a neutral corner, Garcia grabbed the stool and rushed to the ailing Lubin, who was being propped up by the referee.
“Robert was aware, it’s what makes Robert special – his ability to make decisions on the fly,” Algieri said.
“It was really classy – those subtleties sometimes get lost in the mix,” former lightweight champion Malignaggi said.
Beyond that, Garcia helped script a superb showing by WBC interim junior-middleweight champion Ortiz 24-0 (22KOs), whose victory on DAZN was viewed from ringside by possible future opponent and recently unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis of Philadelphia.
Algieri viewed Ortiz’s performance not as a bulldozer effort, but as “artistry ... the way he picked and placed those punches was a thing of beauty.”
Garcia reminding Ortiz to move his head and remain defensively responsible led to the impressive finishing barrage of blows, leading Ennis to point to his watch and mouth, “It’s time,” and meeting Ortiz’s invitation to join him in the ring, where the pair exchanged verbal taunts.
“They were looking at each other’s souls,” Algieri said.
Although each – particularly the Ortiz camp – has begun posturing before the financial talks in tones that could lead to the unraveling of what would be a riveting bout between Ennis, 28, and Ortiz, 27, Algieri said, “I don’t think they will avoid wanting this fight.”
“Both are explosive, both are hungry,” said Malignaggi, who added that gifted fighters still working on building their legacies make the best opponents. “It’s still in front of them, not behind them. It will be maximum entertainment value because they are both on their way there. This fight will be savage. That’s what you want.”
Savage, and as Garcia reminded, safe.
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.
