This Saturday night in Manila, Brian Viloria makes his return to the ring after losing his IBF junior flyweight title to Carlos Tamara in January. In Puerto Rico, Nonito Donaire defends his interim WBA junior bantamweight title versus Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez as the co-headliner on Showtime. This posed a bit of a problem for one Robert ?Grandpa? Garcia, who, after helping to rehabilitate the career of ?The Hawaiian Punch,? had been picked up by Donaire as a ?strategist? months ago.
Garcia can do many things. But being at two places at once isn?t one of them. This weekend, he will be in the corner of Donaire. It?s just the latest chapter of the simmering tension that has existed between the two camps, which dates back to their days as amateur rivals. It had gotten to a point where the two spouses of the Fil-Am fighters traded barbs over Facebook over the hiring of Garcia back in December.
Things which were already uncomfortable, at best, took a turn for the worse last week as Viloria and Donaire were wrapping up their respective training camps.
“Robert Garcia, without notice to Brian- without notice to anyone, had his assistant close down his gym today prior to Brian?s scheduled workout,” said Viloria?s manager, Gary Gittelsohn, last Monday night. “After we had worked out a deal with his assistant, whereby his assistant would be compensated simply for allowing Brian to finish his final workouts prior to leaving to Manila. Brian was flabbergasted; I?m incensed- but not surprised- because I think this is a further demonstration of Robert?s character and it also further elucidates that despite all the proclamations that Robert had given about how he cares about Brian, it just shows he?s being vindictive because he was caught in a lie.
“I?ve demonstrated that ten ways to Sunday,? continued Gittlesohn. ?I have a time line; I have emails; I have text messages that show exactly what he did to Brian and so he?s taken further action by closing his gym down to Brian.”
Several weeks ago, Garcia had expressed concern after Viloria had missed a few days in the gym with flu-like symptoms. But Gittelsohn is of the belief that this was just a ruse to allow him out of his commitment to work Viloria?s corner and, instead, work with Donaire. He added, “I think there are other factors that might come into play as well. I mean, Robert has a very close relationship with Cameron Dunkin and that he shares management responsibilities with Cameron on some fighters and he trains fighters for Cameron. It?s a very incestuous relationship that has worked very well for Robert in the past and I have no problem with that. And Cameron is also Nonito?s manager so I think that, when all is said and done, Robert made this choice. The crazy thing is, I have no problems with him making a choice; I have a problem with the way he handled the conflict and I have a problem with his not being straight with me and I have a problem with him trying to orchestrate a postponement of Brian?s fight, so that he could play both ends against the middle and maybe collect two fees.”
When asked about Viloria?s illness, Garcia told Maxboxing last week, “I?ve been in this sport for years; I fought; I have been through that before with Brandon Rios recently. He had a fight with Urbano Antillon; he got a little cut on his eye- I canceled his fight. Brandon got mad when I told him he wasn?t fighting; he still wanted to fight. He?s like, ?We?ll just stitch it up and in four or five days, we?ll take the stitches out and be ready to go because we still have a week-and-a-half to go from the fight.? If I didn?t care, I would?ve said, ?Let?s go.? Maybe he still would?ve won. I think he would?ve knocked out Antillon in two, three rounds. That?s the way I feel. But I still wasn?t going to take that chance.
“Brian, same thing, three weeks before the fight, he?s in the gym and he doesn?t feel good,? added Garcia. ?He knows he might be getting sick. So I told him, ?OK, tomorrow morning, we?ll see.?” Garcia says that the next day he was told by his boxer that he was too sick to get out of bed and did not see him the remaining three training sessions of that week.
“Monday,” continued Garcia, “he comes into the gym, still coughing; he doesn?t go running. So I don?t see him till 2:30. He?s still coughing; he still spitting out a lot of phlegm. So that?s when I started getting worried. I thought it was too close to the fight. What surprises me is that I had a good talk with Brian; it was me, Francisco, people in the gym who are there every day. What I consider the team. Gary, being the manager, he?s part of the team but he hasn?t shown up to the gym one single day. Erica (Viloria?s fianc?e) hasn?t shown up to the gym one single day. They?re part of his life- but not part of the gym.
“So we talked to Brian; we talked about him being sick and I told him- not that I wanted him to cancel the fight- I said, ?Maybe we should postpone it two, three weeks, train hard and, hopefully, you get back to being healthy and we?ll go back at it. I?m worried about what happened in your last fight. We?re in tremendous shape and look at what happened; you ended up in the hospital almost two weeks. That worries me.? And he was OK with it. If I would?ve [heard] him say, ?Robert, I understand your concern but I feel f**king good; I?m 100-percent ready. Let?s get back to work and let?s show you that I?m good.? That didn?t happen. He just listened to me, stayed quiet. We all told him the same thing and he was like saying, ?Yes,? moving his head up and down, like understanding what I was talking about. So then I felt he was on board with me. So that?s when I told Gary.”
It was at this point where Gittelsohn and Garcia differed on the status of the fighter. According to Gittelsohn, he was given absolute assurances that Viloria was good to go for July 10th. The fight would proceed.
“So that?s when I said, ?That?s it; I don?t want to be a part of it. We?re not communicating with each other and you guys were not respecting my decision. You guys are not listening to what I?ve got to say.?” said Garcia. “A fighter is always going to say he?s ready. We?ve seen so many fights where fighters are hurt in the ring and they still say they can continue. They still get mad at the ref for stopping the fight. It?s just a part of boxing. I know Brian; I?m at the gym with him every day. I see him in the mornings; I see him in the afternoons to train. So I knew Brian. So then, this morning, ?Paco? calls me again, ?He [Brian] didn?t show up to running.? So then, y? know, that tells me he?s not really into it. He doesn?t show up to running; ?Paco?s? at the park waiting for him- he doesn?t show up.
“That tells us he?s not really into it.”
?Paco,? would be his assistant, Francisco Navarro, who was in charge of opening up the gym for Viloria while Garcia was up north with Donaire. According to Garcia, the reason why Viloria was locked out of the gym was, with assurance by Ruben Gomez- who is a mainstay in Viloria?s corner and a close associate of Gittelsohn- Navarro would be compensated for his troubles. At that juncture, he had not been paid. Gittelsohn states clearly that while he, himself, made no deal with Navarro or Garcia for compensation, Gomez had permission to make such an agreement and that it would be honored. Gittelsohn?s track record speaks for itself; he is regarded as among the most honest and scrupulous men in the business.
Garcia had made comments, previously stating, that he would allow Viloria to use his gym prior to flying out to the Philippines. So what changed? According to Garcia, “A week went by and nothing happened so I told ?Paco,? ?Hey, if you don?t feel comfortable, if you don?t think that?s going to happen, then there?s no need for you to be doing it. Those are hours you could be working and making money.? So between us, we made that decision and he said, ?It doesn?t look like I?m going to get paid.? So I said, ?It?s up to you; then let?s just close it up.?”
Gittelsohn scoffs at such a notion; he believes that Navarro implicitly takes orders from Garcia. To the respected manager, this was nothing more than subterfuge to get out of a prior engagement. Worse, a personal betrayal.
“Absolutely, because he [Garcia] told me differently all along the way up until, literally, a day before he bailed. On that basis, I bought him a plane ticket to go to the Philippines. He gave me his commitment and then he turned around; he knew he was locked in with this lie and then he came up with this crazy fabrication in order to extricate himself and, at the same time, trying to look good in the public eye that he was trying to protect Brian. It?s all a big smokescreen.?
As for Viloria (Remember him? The guy that will actually be getting into the ring this weekend), when asked about this snafu, he admitted, “I?m a little disappointed but it really isn?t in my train of thought going into this fight. I?m really just focused on the task at hand at this point. I already did the bulk of my training so whatever happened, we?re going to have to take care of it after the fight. But my concern is about his fight, not anything else.”
Viloria finished up his training last week alternating between the Azteca Gym (where he sparred with the likes of Giovanni Segura) and the Wild Card Boxing Club (where he once trained on a regular basis).” Everything?s on track, as far as I?m concerned, just the unfortunate circumstances of the coaching changes,” he said last week, before leaving on Thursday to Manila.
As for his physical and mental mindset, Viloria says simply,” I?m ready. I spent three months at camp and when it comes down to it, at the end of the day, it is the fighter who does the bulk of the work during the fight. I?ve been with great trainers before; I already know what to do in the ring. I?m pretty much seasoned as a veteran. I?ve been through it all; there?s nothing really else other than a few key pointers here and there, for somebody to just tell me what to do and just to remind me of certain things.” As it related to his flagging health a few weeks ago, “It was just for a couple of days,” he insisted. “I didn?t see the reason why a cancellation had to occur. My base was sufficient enough for me to go for it. It really didn?t sideline me. Actually, in reality, it helped me prepare myself. It didn?t make me get any worse. So I thought the base of the work that I had done already, what I put in, kept me in shape.”
Gomez told Maxboxing, “For the last few weeks, I?ve been up there every sparring day. And I talked to Brian- and Brian?s well-being is our main concern- and he assured me that he was OK. He said, ?I had the flu; I stayed in bed a couple of days just to fully recover. Those few days I took off from the gym did me a world of good.? So I was there for his sparring sessions and that particular day, he did ten rounds with three different kids and he did very, very well. I think he?s in great shape, with all respect to everybody, obviously. But he?s ready to go.”
But Garcia disputes what Gomez says.
“See, those are the things I don?t like; I like to be real?- which Gittelsohn might dispute- “and the sparring partners, one of them was a 16-year-old with four amateur fights. The other one is an 18-year-old with like 30, 40 amateur fights. Those are the sparring partners I arranged; they were there. They were working; they were getting paid,” he said.
As for the turn of events, the trainer said, “It sucks; Brian is a fighter that I?ve been working with for over three years. He?s my world champion, him and Steven Luevano. With him [Luevano], I went to England, won the world title over there with an impressive KO (over Nicky Cook) in the 11th. Then my second title opportunity with Brian, we got out and knocked out [Ulises] ?Archi? Solis, considered the best junior flyweight in the world, knocks him out in 11 rounds. To me, those are unforgettable; those are my two champions, my first two world champions and they?ll always be special for me because they gave me a big name too, as a trainer. That?s why things are working out pretty good with me. It hurts me because I felt that Brian should have at least backed me up and told Gary, ?Y? know Gary, I agree with Robert?s decision? or at least talk to me and tell me, ?Y? know Robert, this is the way it is. I feel f**king good; I want to fight.? But he never, ever told me that when I sat down and talked with him twice. He always seemed like he knew what I was talking about.”
Garcia is a rising trainer; the former IBF junior lightweight titlist has an impressive roster of young talent and just recently opened up his own gym in Oxnard. He?s in a position where established boxers will now seek him out. But with that will come scheduling conflicts. It?s part of the business where egos and feelings will be damaged. And in this case, a relationship that is broken beyond repair.
“I told this to Robert, ?This is a very, very good problem to have. If that?s what I did for a living, training fighters, I wish I had ten fighters fighting on the same day. And this is something where you have a back-up plan and you tell everybody, you?re totally honest with everybody and say, ?Hey guys, all ten of you guys are fighting on the first of January and, obviously, I can?t be in ten different places and we?ll just work to get everybody ready and we have a good enough team where everybody will be taken care of.? That?s how I would?ve handled it,” said Gomez, who, for years, has worked with world-class boxers as a cornerman in various roles.
Right now, it?s Donaire?s career which is in the upswing. That?s the reason why he?s on a major card that is being broadcast nationally on Showtime. The card that Viloria is headlining is being televised in the Philippines but is considered a much smaller show. But Garcia insists this is not about the money. He points out, “Three-percent of $250,000 is not a lot of money. I don?t even know how much Brian is going to make. But I could?ve made ten-percent of Brian?s purse. So I could?ve probably made as much or even more than I would?ve made with Nonito.”
He later claimed that Gittelsohn, “Offered me $25,000 to stay with Brian.”
The manager vehemently denies this.” What planet is this guy living on?! We never discussed such a thing. After the way he handled things, I wouldn?t have offered him ten cents to work Brian?s corner.”
Come Saturday night, Gomez- who will serve as the lead trainer- and former world champion, Frankie Liles, will head up Viloria?s corner.
“Ruben consistently will be fine,” stated Gittelsohn.
HEAT WAVE FLURRIES
Look for Chris Arreola to headline the August 13th edition of ?Friday Night Fights? on ESPN2 at the Citizens Business Bank Arena. One of the names being mentioned is his fellow Mexican heavyweight, Manny Quezada…I?m hearing September 25th being kicked around as the date for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.?s next date…Is Amare Stoudemire without a Steve Nash really worth $100 million? The Knicks will find out soon enough…Was reading Fightnews.com when I came across the news that the fight between Vicente Escobedo and Raymundo Beltran was scratched. OK, is there any reason why? That?s a buzzkill and now were stuck with Erislandy Lara in another snoozer…So USC let Seantrel Henderson out of his letter of intent. Well, c?mon down to Miami, big fella; just leave father M.C. behind. Randy Shannon don?t play that…Interesting, former Seton Hall hoops coach Bobby Gonzalez was arrested for shoplifting, huh? Was he called for ?reaching in??…Will anybody step up and fight Celestino Caballero already?…I can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. You can also become a Facebook fan of Maxboxing at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
