Comments Thread For: Garcia: I’ll Show Puerto Rico They Have a True Champion

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Danny Garcia’s parents were born in Puerto Rico. He still has family there. So when Roman “Rocky” Martinez lost his world title last year, ostensibly leaving the island without a world titleholder, Garcia begged to differ.

“I hear a lot of people saying Puerto Rico has no champions??” Garcia tweeted in November. “Wrong! You got me. 100% Puerto Rican.”

Garcia, a Philadelphia native, says he went to Puerto Rico as a kid and also returned in recent years.
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[richardt]

Garcia sounds a little too damn desperate, it is so damn pretentious and hollow. Something is very wrong with a fighter if he has to beg for fans and their support. Either it is there or not!! He cannot force it! That kind of desperation will push them away more than they already are of him. He does not realize that no matter what he does - he will never be close to their hearts like Cotto, Benitez, Rosario, Trinidad, etc for very obvious reasons that he is just not bright enough to figure out.

[frantic fighter]

Garcia sounds a little too damn desperate! It is so damn pretentious and hollow! Something is very wrong with a fighter if he has to beg for fans and their support. Either it is there or not!! He cannot force it! That kind of desperation will push them away more than they already are of him. He does not realize that no matter what he does - he will never be close to their hearts like Cotto, Benitez, Rosario, Trinidad, etc for very obvious reasons that he is just not bright enough to figure out.

I thought Benitez was born and raised in America so if he was embraced as one of their own than I see no reason why Danny can't eventually be accepted as one of their own.

[Foreign Soil]

Garcia sounds a little too damn desperate! It is so damn pretentious and hollow! Something is very wrong with a fighter if he has to beg for fans and their support. Either it is there or not!! He cannot force it! That kind of desperation will push them away more than they already are of him. He does not realize that no matter what he does - he will never be close to their hearts like Cotto, Benitez, Rosario, Trinidad, etc for very obvious reasons that he is just not bright enough to figure out.

It is desperation. He's a champ with no fanbase so he's gotta fallback and beg somewhere. PRs know boxing so you don't have to tell them your heritage, either they've already embraced you or they never fully will. It's no sure thing like it's no sure thing anyone is a star.

[richardt]

I thought Benitez was born and raised in America so if he was embraced as one of their own than I see no reason why Danny can't eventually be accepted as one of their own.

He started his career in Puerto Rico and became absorbed into the local culture and in fact had well over a dozen fights in Puerto Rico and spoke the language perfectly. His time in Puerto Rico helped him start to become a household name in the island while building an international following at the same time. Danny never engrained himself into the Puerto Rican culture.

Benitez's father Gregorio Benitez, was a member of one of Puerto Rico's most famous boxing families, his brothers Frankie and Gregory Benitez having also been top contenders in the 1970s. He is one of my 6 favorite fighters of all time as seen on the left.

I would ask that anyone who reads this please consider googling his charity, he accepts donations through PayPal.....I have.

I believe this is his current donation outlet:

The Wilfred Benítez Foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises money to help pay for Benítez's care. Donations can be made to: Wilfred Benítez Foundation, P.O. Box 286, Streamwood, IL 60107. All monies are forwarded to his family used only for his care.

[frantic fighter]

He started his career in Puerto Rico and became absorbed into the local culture and in fact had well over a dozen fights in Puerto Rico and spoke the language perfectly. His time in Puerto Rico helped him start to become a household name in the island while building an international following at the same time. Danny never engrained himself into the Puerto Rican culture.

It seems like Danny is trying to reach out to the Puerto Rican fans now.I agree that the language thing will be tough too overcome, but it seems to me like he is really trying to reach out to them and let them know that he is one of them.Also he has like 3 fights in the last two years in the American stumping grounds of Cotto,Trinidad,and Benitez I think he and GBP are really trying to form a connection with that fan base and you have to start some where.

[richardt]

It seems like Danny is trying to reach out to the Puerto Rican fans now.I agree that the language thing will be tough too overcome, but it seems to me like he is really trying to reach out to them and let them know that he is one of them.Also he has like 3 fights in the last two years in the American stumping grounds of Cotto,Trinidad,and Benitez I think he and GBP are really trying to form a connection with that fan base and you have to start some where.

It has to happen naturally, not forced and the reason it has not happened is because native Puerto Ricans hold those who are integrated into their culture, the closest to their hearts like Verdejo and Dulorme. Danny does not begin to fit that profile. If he was to ever fight one of them, they would take sides immediately to Dulorme or Verdejo. If he wanted to be supported in that way, he would have had to fight there, live there, spoke the language perfectly, be one of them. They would say collectively "If you wanted to be one of us, why didn't you move back here and BECOME one of us? Why are you just now fighting here instead of before?" It is ALL TOO CONTRIVED for him to do this now! It is all publicity to make money. That's how anyone would see it. A marketing technique created by Schafer. It lacks all sincerity. Danny is an American and there will always be those walls up. Real connections are not made in laboratory tests.

An analogy is like this, 3 people in a room. Two are in their 70's, one in his 20's. The two in their 70's start talking about the 60's and the hippie era, street music, peace signs, free food, community living, love and rock and roll. They made a connection. The 20 year old cannot possible add anything to the conversation on what it was like to be there, feel what they felt, experience what they experienced. Its not like thy don't like or care for the 20 year old but the connection to their culture is not a connection they feel with the guy in his 20's. He is disconnected to them.

[frantic fighter]

It has to happen naturally, not forced and the reason it has not happened is because native Puerto Ricans hold those who are integrated into their culture, the closest to their hearts like Verdejo and Dulorme. Danny does not begin to fit that profile. If he was to ever fight one of them, they would take sides immediately to Dulorme or Verdejo. If he wanted to be supported in that way, he would have had to fight there, live there, spoke the language perfectly, be one of them. They would say collectively "If you wanted to be one of us, why didn't you move back here and BECOME one of us? Why are you just now fighting here instead of before?" It is ALL TOO CONTRIVED for him to do this now! It is all publicity to make money. That's how anyone would see it. A marketing technique created by Schafer. It lacks all sincerity. Danny is an American and there will always be those walls up. Real connections are not made in laboratory tests.

Does this fall in line with that whole New York rican slur?The funny thing is that most Mexican fans support their fighters no matter what whether they were born in the the U.S. or Mexico and when most Mexican fighters rise to prominence they move to america and assimilate into our society.They are not ridiculed or anything too me Ricans seem a bit petty,while I agree that it maybe a shallow marketing tool,but what difference does it make with Cotto's career winding down and Verdejo being years away this may be the best hope they have.Also I don't believe Dulorme is even a real Rican.

[richardt]

Does this fall in line with that whole New York rican slur?The funny thing is that most Mexican fans support their fighters no matter what whether they were born in the the U.S. or Mexico and when most Mexican fighters rise to prominence they move to america and assimilate into our society.They are not ridiculed or anything too me Ricans seem a bit petty,while I agree that it maybe a shallow marketing tool,but what difference does it make with Cotto's career winding down and Verdejo being years away this may be the best hope they have.Also I don't believe Dulorme is even a real Rican.

A) that is not true about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. The folks from south of the border supported Oscar TILL he fought one of their own in JCC and then they turned on Oscar and are still bitter to this day. It is like a local team getting support in their hometown compared to someone out of state. Loyalty runs deep. B) Dulorme is half Puerto Rican but most IMPORTANTLY, he has lived there since he was 3 years old and in integrated into the island culture and therefore, one of them. Dulorme was born and raised in the Carolina, Puerto Rico, his father is of French decent from the island of Saint Martin. His family later briefly moved to the Dominican Republic before eventually settling back in Puerto Rico when he was 3 years old.

[FrenchDeLaHoya]

2nd or 3rd Rd KO for garcia