Why trainer Robert Garcia has such a unique perspective of Floyd Mayweather
LAS VEGAS – As 1999 dawned, 21-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. sat atop the Ring Magazine ratings in the super featherweight division.
Mayweather won his first world championship in stunning fashion on Oct. 3, 1998, when he utterly destroyed Genaro Hernandez to win the WBC championship.
Hernandez was one of the best and most respected fighters in the game and was unbeaten at 130 pounds going into the fight.
That Mayweather won wasn't that unexpected; he was a 1996 Olympic bronze medalist and for years, experts had raved about his ability as one of the sport's top prospects.
But it was the manner in which he completely shut down Hernandez that opened eyes. Hernandez was never in the fight. Offensively and defensively, Mayweather overwhelmed him.
Only three weeks after Mayweather won the first of his many world titles, a 24-year-old from Oxnard, Calif., made the first successful defense of the IBF 130-pound title he'd won months earlier.
Robert Garcia, then known as "Grandpa," knocked out Ramon Ledon in the fifth round on Oct. 24, 1998, in Atlantic City, N.J. Garcia opened 1999 as Ring's third-rated 130-pounder.
Nearly 16 years later, those men are again in opposite corners, and sparring like they once were expected to do back then.
Now as then, Mayweather is a world champion. On Saturday, he defends his WBC welterweight and WBC super welterweight titles against Marcos Maidana in a rematch of a tighter-than-expected May 3 bout.
Since beating Hernandez, Mayweather has won additional world titles at lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight, and earned acclaim as the top fighter in the world.
Garcia will be in Maidana's corner on Saturday, tasked with helping Maidana become the first man to defeat Mayweather.
It is not, he knows, an easy proposition. Though Garcia said there were never serious talks of him fighting Mayweather when they sat atop the 130-pound rankings, he's long known of Mayweather's greatness.
"You saw what he did to Genaro Hernandez, and Genaro Hernandez was a great, great fighter," Garcia said. "If you can do that to Genaro Hernandez, there is no doubting how good you are."
Garcia, who retired in 2001 when his heart was no longer in the sport, is only 25 months older than Mayweather. He marvels at what Mayweather can do, but he's clearly not intimidated by him.
He's stuck up for Maidana since the post-fight news conference after the first bout, when Garcia jawed with Mayweather about the gloves that were used in the bout.
Maidana wanted to use a custom pair of Everlast MX gloves, the same make and model that Miguel Cotto used when he fought Mayweather in 2012. But Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, complained about the padding in the gloves and the custom pair was ruled invalid by Francisco Aguilar, the chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Aguilar later ruled that Maidana could wear a stock pair of Everlast MX gloves, but neither Ellerbe nor Mayweather would budge. Maidana wore a pair of Everlast Powerlock gloves that he'd never used before.
At the post-fight news conference, Maidana expressed his belief he'd won the fight. And Garcia got into Mayweather's face and said the outcome would have been different had Maidana been allowed to wear the Everlast MX gloves.
That has led to an almost running joust between the men since.
"Robert Garcia, he's a great guy and he's a great trainer," Mayweather said. "He's got to do what he has to do for his fighter. But I was the best when he was a fighter and we were in the same division, and I'm the best now when he's [been retired] for years and is training guys. The one constant is me.
"I've been a pro for 18 years and a world champion for 17 of them. Who else does that, or has done that, but do you [in the media] talk about that? No. But nothing has changed. Robert Garcia and his guy are going to get it again."
Garcia, who has become one of the most respected trainers in the sport, has brought his father Eduardo in to assist. Eduardo Garcia trained his son to the title and also helped Fernando Vargas rise to prominence.
Eduardo Garcia has long been regarded by insiders as an astute boxing man. He's largely retired, though he still shows up at his son's gym every now and then.
But he's worked a great deal with Maidana because Robert Garcia wanted to leave nothing to chance for the rematch.
"We have a pretty good idea of what Chino has to do," Robert Garcia said. "But my dad is an extra set of eyes and another mind, and he knows Mayweather and his style very well. It just makes sense to have him there."
Neither Garcia is going to hop into the ring, and Maidana's success will hinge in large part on his ability to get to the correct distance and land his right hand regularly.
But Maidana admitted the Garcias make a difference.
"They know what it takes to win [at this level] and they've made me comfortable and gotten me prepared," Maidana said. "I'm ready for sure."
