Who was the "FAKE" GENARO GARCIA? Will the "REAL" GENARO GARCIA come to the Philippines?
By Mike Angel Lopez
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 08 Mar 2012
This past Saturday night in the beautiful island of Bohol was supposed to be a test for one of the top fighters of ALA Promotions, Rey "BOOM BOOM" Bautista against a tough and a very experienced fighter by the name of Genaro "Poblanito" Garcia.
Last February 28 I had the pleasure to meet Genaro Garcia upon his arrival at the Mactan Cebu International Airport at around 11:45 pm. He was rushed alone since his trainer didn't arrive with him. I brought him directly to his hotel room so he can rest and take the morning boat together with me at 9:00am to Bohol.
On the boat to Bohol, I had questions for Genaro Garcia that I know that he will be asked at the Press Conference so that he is familiarized as I do for all Mexican boxers who come to Cebu. Many answers he gave me, for example: Birthplace, nickname, his win and loss record and his height were different than what was on Boxrec.com. It didn't faze me as a lot of information on Boxrec.com are not always accurate.
Upon arrival in Bohol, the first thing I did was to check his weight. We proceeded to do light workout with the punch mitts and headed to the track so that he can run. Thursday morning we got up early and headed to the track and he ran 8 laps (3.2 kilometers) around the oval track with his sauna suit to lose some excess pounds.
While we were at the Press Conference waiting to start, Garcia saw the banners of the event and said the photo on the banner was not him. I just assumed it was an old picture, but he said it wasn't him. When a question came up who was his toughest opponent, he didn't mention 1 of the 3 world championship fights he had or one of the 8 world champions he has fought. He said it was Hector Velasquez. Hector Veasquez was not even on his record on Boxrec.com. I was shocked he wasn't grilled harder by the Press on these top fighters he was supposedly to have fought.
The Cebu Sportswriters are sharp when it comes to Boxing. They figured something was fishy and after the Press Conference they had a meeting and wanted to know who this Genaro Garcia was. The meeting was held late Thursday night, and the truth needed to come out. Friday morning the truth came out, he was Genaro "Panterita" Garcia with a measly record of 10 wins and 11 losses. He actually told me his manager Jesus Bolanos told him to lie and say his record was 28 wins and 8 losses. He never met the Mexican matchmaker Hugo Correa.
He actually believed he was the fighter picked to fight Rey Bautista. Genaro Garcia did fight twice in Canada. Genaro Garcia was a victim. Genaro Garcia is married with 2 children and his wife is expecting another child in 3 months. Genaro works as a Chef in a high end restaurant. Hugo Correa has been to Cebu three times , first with Alejandro Barerra and Pipino Cuevas Jr. and then the rematch with Alejandro Barerra and then finally with Bladimir Hernandez. He was the matchmaker with Rosendo Vega, Gerson Guerrero, Francisco Rosas and Juan Carlos Gallegos.
In a email to me from the Manager/Promoter of the real Genaro Garcia, Mr. Fausto Daniel Garcia Navarro, he said it was sad to hear that his boxer who has built a reputation as a tough fighter was replaced with a punching bag with no skills, Genaro Garcia. He revealed that the news has hit Mexico hard on the "Switch-a-roo" that happened in Bohol. He expressed to me that the Original World Class Boxer Genaro Garcia is a Bantamweight (118) and Super Bantamweight (122) fighter and has never fought at 128 pounds. Will Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista get the chance to fight the real Genaro Garcia who has never fought at 128? Let's see what happens in the weeks to come.
Photo: The author (L) with Genaro 'Panterita' Garcia before the start of the first round during Garcia's bout with Boom-Boom Bautista last Saturday in Bohol. Photo by Dong Secuya.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Mike Angel Lopez.
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