Robert Garcia

Oxnard’s first world champion was boxer Robert Garcia. He was born on January 29, 1975 in San Pedro, CA. At the age of two, his parents moved the family into a trailer park on 1301 Commercial Avenue in Oxnard. “Those were the best years of our lives”, remembered Garcia during our podcast chat almost two years ago. He had his first amateur fight at a festival in Oxnard when he was only five years old. As an amateur, he made it to the 1992 Olympic trials but lost by decision to future world champion Willie Jorrin of Sacramento.

Garcia attended Channel Islands High School in Oxnard. During the summer of 1992, after his junior year, he made his professional debut in Japan. As a sparring partner of his close friend/mentor Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez, Garcia was given the chance to make his debut at the age of seventeen on the undercard of an event Hernandez was going to be making a title defense. By the end of that year, Garcia had three fights on his resume all fought in Japan. The Oxnard fighter finally got his dream shot to compete for a world title on March 13, 1998 against Harold Warren in Miami winning the fight by unanimous decision. After two title defenses he lost the belt to Diego “Chico” Corrales the following year. On September 22,2001 Garcia had his last fight against John Trigg on the undercard of Fernando Vargas – “Shibata” Flores in Las Vegas.

Shortly after his last fight, Robert would go help train fighters at the La Colonia Boxing Club gym. His father, Eduardo, noticed his willingness to train by showing up daily and gave him two fighters (Felipe Campa and Arturo “Gonzo” Barraza) to work with. A few years later, he would lead Steven Luevano to winning a world title and making him his first champion. Today, Robert Garcia is one of the most popular and successful trainers in the world. His gym, Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, is the “go to” gym to watch top fighters train. Cheers and “Happy Birthday” to Robert Garcia!Interview # 1 - One of the most popular boxing trainers today, Robert Garcia, talks about his start as a trainer in “our” home city of Oxnard, CA. We discuss his transition from boxer to boxing trainer and what was going on with his stable at that time. Great info from a great trainer!

Interview # 2 - This past Monday night one of the best trainers in the world, Robert Garcia, came on TheBoxingBar.com. In our first interview in 2013, he had just been named “Trainer of the Year” and we covered his start as a trainer. On this day we discussed his upbringing in Oxnard, his career as a boxer, and how he has grown as a trainer. His loyalty has always gone to his “Four F’s” – his family, his fighters, his friends, and his fans. Listen to Robert in this interview to understand why he continues to be one of the most successful trainers and most loved boxing figures of his era. Cheers to Mr. Robert Garcia!

Interview # 3 - This is our third interview with top boxing trainer, Robert Garcia. In this interview we talked about the current state of boxing, everything he has going on at the moment, and what awaits him in 2024. Also, check out our last two interviews with this former champion. In our first interview in 2013, we discussed his Trainer of the Year honor he had just received. We discussed his start as a trainer. In our second interview we spoke about his life growing up in Oxnard, CA and his whole professional boxing career.

Interview # 4 - This past Wednesday evening, trainer Robert Garcia came on for his yearly interview with TheBoxingBar podcast. At that moment, he had just finished breakfast in Saudi Arabia where he is at for this afternoon’s big fight between his fighter Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (22-0, 15 KO’s) and Fernando Daniel Martinez (18-0, 9 KO’s). During the interview, Robert shared the news that Rodriguez’s baby was born that morning in Texas and watched it all via video call. Congrats to the Rodriguez family! We also discussed things that are going on in his gym, his fighters, and the recent passing of long-time local Oxnard trainer Louie “Tiny” Patino. Today’s boxing event will be on DAZN Pay-Per-View from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia headlined by “The Mexican Monster” David Benavidez taking on Anthony Yarde with the start time of 12:00 pm PT.