 |
|
Middleweight Boxer Kirino Garcia Introduction
Kirino Gracia and Al
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit and interview a great boxing champion who’s held five boxing championship belts throughout his career.
An extremely down to earth person, most of you have probably never of heard of him unless you have been to Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. There, everyone knows him. They call him El Campeón - The Champ, Karinio Garcia.
Now don’t let his record of 35-23-2, 26 KO’s deceive you. When Kirino first started in 1990, he lost his first 18 fights in a row but some of the fights he lost were only days apart. He’s been called a journeymen but he’s one of those journeymen who boxers don’t want to face because he comes to fight and win. He’s one of those warriors who will take fights on short notice like the fight he has tomorrow (4/29/04) against NABF middleweight
champion
Kingsley Ikeke - he got it on three weeks notice. champion David Reid. Reid was coming off a 12 round decision loss to Felix Trinidad (who also won Reid's title) and was heavily favored for the fight. Kirino gave Reid all he could handle and more and although Kirino ended up losing a 10 round unanimous decision, I had Kirino winning the fight as did many in the crowd. I’ve watched this fight at least an additional five times and each time I think Kirino did enough to win. Kirino has wins over former champions Terence Ali, Meldrick Taylor, Simon Brown, and Frankie Randall.
While we were at his home for this interview, he invited us to go to some of his workout sessions and some of his sparing sessions. We thought we had some hard workouts here in the States, but damn, these guys are no joke. They go strong and hard for a long time.
Kirino just goes straight to you and can dish it out. He also can take as much as you give, and he wont quit or back-up. He punches like a mule, and absorbs punches like they were nothing.
He is not a flashy boxer, he just wants to get in there and do what he has to do and get out. All this in one day was pretty overwhelming - getting to meet him and other champions that he works out with – current NABF featherweight champion Juan Carlos “El Ranchero” Ramirez and former WBC lightweight champion Cesar Bazan - it was a good day.
I guess he liked us too because a couple of days later, he invited us for a run. And of course, we accepted.
We figured, how hard can it be?
Well, we should of told him that I was still sick…yup, I got really sick when I arrrived (probably something I ate before I left home), and I was just getting over it. But I still went.
We started off the run on dirt roads and small hills. As we got closer and closer to the mountains, I was just thinking, I hope that we are not going to run through those mountains. Sure enough, that’s where we were heading. He looks back, I tell him don’t worry about us. We go about a mile through the mountain and we are dragging ass, Kirino asks if we were okay. I tell him, keep going, if we stop, we will wait for you and then we’ll run back home with you.
Well, we had to stop and walked toward the direction that he ran. He and his running partner must of run for about another hour, and then, finally, we spotted them on their way back. We caught up to him and ran the rest of the way to where we had started. He has to have good cardio because when we finally stopped, Kirino wasn’t that winded - his running partner was, and we were dead tired. We thanked him for giving us a glimpse of his workout schedule and for the interview. Kirino is a great guy who just needs a little more recognition.
AL (Written Interview with Kirino)
Special Thanks go out to: - Kirino Garcia and his family - Boxeo Olimpico de Juarez - And the Mexican officials who helped us find him
Thefightgame.tv would like to once again thank Mr. Garcia and all his family and friends for all their great hospitality.
Line-up: April
29, 2004 (HBO Latino)
NABF Middleweight Bout (12 Rds) Champ Kingsley Ikeke (18-1, 10 KO's) vs. Karino Garcia (35-23-2, 26 KO's)
Bantamweight Bout (10 Rds) Fernando Montiel vs. Sanuel Lopez
Super Featherweight Bout (10 Rds) Mike Anchondo vs. Anthony More
Card subject to change (4/27/04)
|
 |
