BREAKING NEWS: THEY SENT THE WRONG GENARO GARCIA TO FIGHT BOOM-BOOM!
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 03 Mar 2012
Tagbilaran City ? It appears that Rey 'Boom-Boom' Bautista will be fighting the wrong Genaro Garcia as he fights in front of his province-mates for the first time in 6 years today.
This story got complicated as the facts started to accumulate. But we will have to begin when Genaro Garcia was asked during the press conference last Thursday, ?Who was the best boxer you?ve fought??
'Hector Velasquez' was his answer. The Genaro Garcia who fought eight world champions and the one billed as Rey Bautista?s opponent here in Bohol did not have the name Hector Velasquez on his boxrec record. This triggered a discussion among the Cebu-based boxing after the press conference.
There were also other red flags being raised. For one, Garcia arrived here without his trainer, who was reportedly sick, and had to rely on the services of Mexican-American Cebu resident Mike Lopez. It's quite unusual for a fighter of Genero Garcia's caliber would be left to travel alone.
During the official weigh-in held Friday noon at the Island City Mall, the Genaro Garcia present here in Bohol was four pounds over the contracted weight. He tried to lose the excess pounds, as Lopez said, but hit a wall and decided to replenish his body by eating instead of continuing to jog outside.
This unusual behaviour made Cebu boxing writers more suspicious. The writers ? representing the three major Cebu dailies and philboxing.com ? decided to surf the net for boxing records and fight videos. It was obvious that he looked different from the Genaro Garcia who fought Rafael Marquez, Toshiaki Nishioka and other famous names. We later saw a photocopy of Garcia?s passport and Genaro ?Poblanito? Garcia on boxrec had a different birthday from the Garcia who arrived in Bohol.
While this was going on, ALA Promotions, as learned later, were also having their suspicions, as Garcia told ALA Promotions patriarch Antonio Aldeguer that it was not him who appeared on the promotional posters. It seemed there was no attempt from Garcia's part to deceive everyone.
The referee for the Bautista vs Garcia fight is Bruce McTavish. A meeting was arranged by ALA Promotions Friday evening between Genaro Garcia, Mike Lopez, MacTavish, boxing writers, GAB supervisor Rolando Mendoza, ALA Promotions CEO Michael Aldeguer and Antonio Aldeguer for the reason that MacTavish refereed the fight between Genaro Garcia and Nishioka in Japan. McTavish and Garcia did not recognize each other when they met. Obviously, this was not the Garcia who McTavish refereed in Japan against Nishioka.
Garcia did bring the necessary papers with him ? including an authorization from the Mexican boxing commission. His name on his passport and Mexican boxing documents is Genaro Garcia Gutierrez. As things began to unravel, ALA Promotions currently blame Mexican matchmaker Hugo Correa who was their contact in Mexico and was instructed to send the Genaro Garcia who fought eight world champions.
So, who is the Garcia who will fight here in Bohol?
He denies he is the Genaro ?Panterita? Garcia who was stopped in a single round by Hector Velasquez. He claimed that his fight with Velasquez ended in a draw.
He claims he fought in the lightweight division and has a record of 28-8 where he said he fought in Canada and Romania, among others, but as of press time, we are still trying to verify this.
Top photo: Veteran referee Bruce McTavish identifies Genaro Garcia during their meeting Friday evening.
The Cebu media confronts Genaro Garcia (2nd from right) about his true identity.
Hugo Correa cannot be reached for comment as of this writing. ALA Promotions, as of this writing, was trying to contact the Mexican Boxing Commission in Mexico City.
For the meantime, the fight is still on. The Garcia here in Bohol is a licensed boxer and has been approved by the Mexican commission to travel and fight in the Philippines. Veteran referee Bruce McTavish interviewed Garcia and McTavish told PhilBoxing that Garcia knows the rules of the ring and gave the nod for Garcia to fight against Bautista.
We will continue to update our readers. It appears that just like everybody else, ALA Promotions are also victims in this matter.
(Dong Secuya contributed to this report.)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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