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!