For the next month it looks like trainer Robert Garcia will be dividing his time between his bases in Oxnard, California and the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Garcia will be working with former lightweight champion Brandon Rios while at home and while in Vegas his duties will be tied to champion Nonito Donaire, who is eyeing a February 4th HBO showcase against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. for the vacant WBO junior featherweight title. I caught up with Garcia recently to get his take on both fighters and some of the subplots surrounding them, including his plans on studying for Vazquez, his opinion on trainer Freddie Roach?s disparaging remarks towards Rios, and his thoughts about Brandon?s desires to meet up with newly-crowned WBA/IBF junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson.
Read on for some select quotes from the respected trainer?
Working with Nonito Donaire? ?He?s special. Everybody knows. He?s special. And all my training camps with Donaire, with Brandon Rios, with [Antonio] Margarito, with Mikey [Garcia], they?re all exciting, they?re all fun. They?re all different in their own way but I enjoy every training camp I have. With Nonito it?s a great treatment they give me. Whatever I need, our sparring partners are always taken care of. So it?s just a great training camp. So that?s what keeps me going.? Advertisement
Getting ready for Vazquez Jr?. ?I?ve never really followed much of his career. I?ve seen his last fight against Arce but before that I never really followed him. Now that I will get his fights on tape, I will study and see what we can come up with. But right now I don?t have anything in particular where I can say ?We?re going to work on this? or ?He?s good at this and that? because I haven?t studied him.?
Why Freddie Roach, who recently dissed Brandon Rios and said he would love Amir Khan to ?expose? him, may want to keep things hush? ?Roach shouldn?t make any comments on Brandon, because any time he does, his fighter?s lose. He did the same thing when [Jorge] Linares was going to fight. And [he said] ?Oh, Linares would dance circles around Brandon, Linares could do this and Linares could do that? and look what happened. The same with Amir Khan. ?I can?t wait for Amir Khan to fight Brandon because I want him to revenge me? and look at what happened to Amir Khan. So maybe he should stop even mentioning Brandon?s name because it?s not good luck for him.?
Khan?s entertaining upset loss to Lamont Peterson on December 10th? ?It was a close fight, it was a great fight. They both came out to fight. I think Peterson did enough to take the win. If it was because of those points or whatever it was, it?s a boxing match. And that?s why there?s a ref to take points away. I do feel that Khan was pushing and holding too much, where those points were ok. It was a good decision from the ref. It made a difference in the scorecards but that?s why it?s boxing and that?s why you have a ref inside and he makes those decisions and that?s what happens.?
Sizing up Brandon Rios vs. Lamont Peterson? ?It would be a hell of a fight. Peterson is a great fighter, not only a fighter but a great person, as his background tells. He?s been through a lot. So it would be a fight that I would love to get in there against Brandon. Because Brandon loves those fights, Brandon loves those wars and he loves to fight. That would be a fight that the whole world would enjoy.?
Rios? desires to face off with Peterson? ?When he read that about Peterson, Brandon called me right away and said ?Hey, Peterson says he wants to fight me. Call Cameron [Dunkin] and tell him to make the fight happen?. He?s excited about it and there?s a lot of fights out there, big names. Especially if it was against Peterson, fighting for two titles, he would love to.?
Whether Rios will move up to 140 pounds after losing his title after coming in overweight for his weigh-in against John Murray earlier this month? ?But we are going to get him with a special person that is going to cook for him, that?s going to monitor his weight and try to see if we could do 135 again. But as of right now, we?re still not 100% sure what?s going to happen.?
