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04/07/2006 Archived Entry: "Chicago Fighter Trinidad Garcia Looks to Live 'The Dream'"
Chicago Fighter Trinidad Garcia Looks to Live 'The Dream'
By Juan C. Ayllon
Photo by Tom Glunz
"Every achiever that I have ever met says, 'My life turned around when I began to believe in me.'"
--Robert H. Schuller
Garcia (right) nails Lynch with a right hand in November 2004
CHICAGO – Trinidad Garcia is a bellman at the Hyatt Regency-O’Hare working the night shift. However, he has loftier dreams. A pleasant and soft-spoken young man at 23 years age, he is also a professional boxer, who at 4-2-2 and no knockouts, has not fought since November 11, 2005, when he earned a draw against one Fred Thomas, who was 0-0-1 at the time.
Like many boxers before him, absence from the ring has made Garcia’s heart grow fonder for this sport that, for some, is powerfully addictive.
“There was literally an emptiness inside of me. Without boxing, I’m not who I am,” said Garcia. And so, he has returned to training for an anticipated bout in May.
When on, his style is a fluid and graceful blend of boxing and slugging. When off, however, he holds back and fights more tentatively, which has caused some to question his heart.
Garcia spoke candidly on the matter, saying, “I’ve had people tell me this hundreds of times—and you can ask who you’ve got to ask—I’m the best gym fighter they’ve ever met in their life. I don’t believe in my own ability.
“ I don’t know if it’s just knowing that I can get in there with a guy like Angel Hernandez; me and him would go to war at times. People would go, ‘Jesus Christ, where did this Trinidad come from?’ Even guys like Fernando Vargas told me, ‘You’re one of the toughest guys I’ve met in my life.’ It’s kind of a comfort zone with me. I think that my mind gets out of there.
“I have to remind myself that I am that guy that went to war with the Fernando Vargas’s, Angel Hernandez’s and the Freddy Cuevas’s. That is me and that’s not somebody else. ”
Like fellow Chicagoan and World Boxing Council U.S.A. Middleweight Champion Miguel Hernandez, Garcia began boxing in the amateurs weighing over 200 lbs. He weighed 225 lbs., to be exact. Unlike Hernandez, he compiled a losing record, going 0 and 7 in his first four bouts.
“I was 5’ 10” fighting guys that were super heavyweight. And, I wasn’t a short, muscular guy; I was a fat kid,” he said.
In August 2002, after several years in the amateurs, Garcia fell in love with the sport. Realizing that he wasn’t going to be effective at super heavyweight, heavyweight or light heavyweight, he embarked on a journey of sorts. Packing his 1994 Ford Escort with water and tuna, and with $300 to his name, he drove down to St. Louis, where he trained and slept on the floor of a dormitory for a month.
From there, he traveled to Oklahoma, where he trained and showered at various gyms and slept in his car and cooked meals on grills at truck stops. Arriving back home just before Thanksgiving, he weighed 150 lbs.
“Nobody recognized me,” said Garcia.
Garcia won his next eight amateur fights in a row. Even though he did not win the Golden Gloves, he was inspired by his progress. According to Garcia, his best friend at the time, Miguel Hernandez suggested that he turn pro.
“I knew that I had capability to become something,” said Garcia. “I felt like I can do this. Why not try?”
Teaming up with Alfonso Ortiz, Jr. and Sr.—who train Freddy Cuevas—and Jose Nazario—also known as “NBC” in Chicago boxing circles—he turned professional in 2004, defeating Chris Patterson by split decision on February 27, 2004.
“I ended up dropping him in the first and it went to a decision and I won the fight,” said Garcia.
Garcia showed flashes of brilliance in dominating trial horse Ed Humes on April 16th of the same year. This was the same Humes who two months later surprised all with a well-timed hook that flattened former amateur standout and current “The Contender” TV show star Rudy Cisneros in the first round of his second pro bout.
However, four months later in his third professional fight, Garcia outworked but only managed a draw against harder swinging Corey McCants, who was 2-9 and one knockout at the time. Then in November 2004, he survived a scary knockdown and fought back hard, only to lose a close bout against Joe Lynch, which was broadcast on Telefutura.
Following his loss to Lynch, Garcia was invited along with Angel Hernandez to help train Fernando Vargas, where he learned an awful lot.
Garcia said, “The first time I fought Fernando Vargas [in sparring], he whipped me down. He took me to school. The next day, I knew what he was capable of doing. He was just like, ‘What happened to the guy that we met yesterday?’”
In January 2005, Garcia traveled to Merrillville, Indiana, where he won a unanimous decision over Chris Patterson, dropping him in the first and second rounds.
Then—by his own admission—Garcia was dominated in another unanimous decision loss to Joe Lynch in April 2005. The following November, Trinidad managed the aforementioned draw against Fred Thomas.
“I turned pro when I was 21. I was burned out for a while being a professional and trying to think that I could be everything else that everybody is at my age and be a boxer. It’s not possible,” said Garcia.
He continued, “Right after my fight in November, I wanted to see what was so special about drinking and partying. I would even say before Fred Thomas. I didn’t go out drinking or partying, but I had a girlfriend, and I usually don’t have a girlfriend during my boxing career.
“It’s fun while it lasts, but it gets boring. And there was an emptiness [inside me.] Now, I’m ready to come back and I will come back,” he said.
“As of late, I said, ‘Forget it! I don’t care who you are or what you’re going to do. That’s how I’m preparing myself. I’m at work—hopefully nobody reads this—and I’m swimming at work! In the midnight shift, there’s nothing to do. Or, I’ll run on the treadmills in the health club. I do things now that will bring me to a different life.”
“And, now I feel I have the right team with me. My manager is Rick Ramos; my trainer is Jose Nazario; Alfonso Ortiz, Jr. and Senior—those guys have always been in my corner. Now I feel like it’s time to fulfill a dream.”
Speaking of promoter Dominic Pesoli, for whom he anticipates boxing in May or June, he said, “If it wasn’t for Dominic, I probably wouldn’t be in the opportunity I am today. He’s probably the most honest man in boxing. He’s a friend, as well as my promoter.”
He also added, “Miguel Hernandez is probably the nicest guy in boxing. There’s nobody nicer out there. I’ve burned some bridges with a lot of people…[and] would appreciate it if you put it out there, that, ‘Hey, Miguel’—he knows what I’m talking about—‘I apologize.’
Garcia said, “Miguel talks about ‘living the dream.’ Me and him used to talk ‘till two or three o’clock in the morning about, ‘Man, it’s going to be so cool,’ and it sounds ridiculous—we were saying that it was so cool that we’re able to wear certain shorts or certain shoes into the ring!
“This is not all about the money or the fame. If you don’t love to fight, then you shouldn’t be in this,” said Garcia. “I bust my butt everyday…between paying bills, to do this, and trying to diet at 23 years old is probably the hardest thing I’ve done in my life!”
Continuing, he said, “Every fight of mine is a barnburner. I don’t have the knockout power of these other guys. I’m the kind of guy that will stand in the middle of the ring and slug it out with you. I don’t mind getting beat up for it. I love to fight.”
Boxing is a brutal business littered with the crushed dreams of many would be champions. Yet, Garcia refuses to let his dream slip into the abyss of “what if's,” and thus end up regretful. Against all odds, he’s casting his lot, facing his fears and giving it all he's got. There’s something noble about that. And, in the end, isn’t that really “living the dream?”
