He was a globetrotting stylist, extra skilful than a journeyman, who beloved getting within the ring and letting arms fly. Here, Eric Armit seems to be at a charismatic and controversial boxer who idolised Sugar Ray Robinson, led a turbulent private life and boxed a who’s who of combating royalty.
Born: 9 May 1937 in Havana, Cuba
Died: 1 June 2000 in Cuba
Turned Pro: 23 July 1955
Division(s): tremendous-featherweight to tremendous-welterweight
Record: 239 fights, 138 wins (55 by KO/TKO), 80 losses, 21 attracts.
Defeated: Bobby Bell, Alfredo Urbina, Tommy Tibbs (twice), Jose Stable*, Rolando Morales, Pastor Marrero, Mario Vecchiatto, Valerio Nunez, Fernand Nollet, Giordano Campari, Ray Adigun, Francois Pavilla, Rafiu King*, Joe Tetteh (twice), Andres Navarro, Kid Tano, LC Morgan, Paul Armstead, Bobby Arthur, Jonathan Dele, Bunny Grant*, Marcos Geraldo, Perry Abner.
Lost to: Frankie Ryff, Doug Vaillant (twice)*, Vicente Rivas*, Jose Stable*, Jose Napoles (twice)**, Carlos Hernandez (twice)**, Alfredo Urbina, Bunny Grant*, Rafiu King, Jean Josselin*, Eddie Perkins** (3 times), Antonio Ortiz*, Ismael Laguna **, Conny Rudhof, Olli Maki*, Andres Navarro (twice), Maurice Cullen, Bruno Acari **, Antonio Ortiz*, Carmelo Bossi**, Borge Krogh, Paul Armstead, Ken Buchanan **, Pedro Carrasco **, Chris Fernandez, Silvano Bertini*, Jose Hernandez* (twice), Jonathan Dele (twice), Jose Duran **, Roger Menetrey*, Roberto Duran **, Esteban De Jesus**, Saoul Mamby **, Sugar Ray Seales, Johnny Gant*, Wilfredo Benitez **, Larry Bonds*, Adriano Marrero*, Josue Marquez *, Billy Backus**, Clyde Gray*, Willie Monroe, Ralph Palladin.
Scottish legend Ken Buchanan defeated Robinson Garcia
Drew with: Carlos Hernandez **, Doug Vaillant*, Carmelo Bossi **, Andres Navarro (twice), Francois Pavilla*, LC Morgan, Paul Armstead, Miguel Velazquez **, Jose Hernandez*, Antonio Ortiz *
** Denotes previous or future holder of a model of a world title
* Denotes world title challenger
The Story of Angel Robinson Garcia
Unlike many boxers, Angel Garcia didn’t come from a deprived youth. He was certainly one of six kids, and as his father was an officer within the Cuban Army, that they had a good lifestyle as he grew up.
Garcia began boxing in his early teenagers and turned professional after profitable all of his novice fights and gathering a number of trophies. An enormous fan of Sugar Ray Robinson, he took Robinson as a part of his ring title.
Angel was a superb technical boxer with nice expertise, and, as his 55 wins by KO/TKO point out, he was a honest puncher. Despite these qualities, a fighter with eighty losses is not any candidate for greatness in boxing, however Garcia needs to be in with a shout for high travelling journeyman and for the hardest chin in boxing.
He had constructed a 29-2 document in Cuba earlier than beginning to take fights outdoors Cuba in 1958. Cuba banned skilled boxing in 1962, forcing him to fight outdoors his homeland for the remainder of his profession. He fought everybody and anybody – and fought usually.
He had twelve fights in a single six-month interval and seventeen and twenty in two different single years. Sometimes, the time durations between essential fights have been ridiculous. In the area of a single month, in October 1960, he fought a draw with Doug Vaillant and misplaced twice on factors in opposition to future WBA/WBC gentle-welterweight title holder Carlos Hernandez.
On one other event, he fought an eight-spherical fight in Italy on 9 July 1967, and 9 days later, once more in Italy, he confronted future WBA/WBC tremendous-welter champion Carmelo Bossi.
He misplaced on factors to unbeaten Sugar Ray Seales on 13 February 1974 and fought and misplaced on factors in opposition to Josue Marquez in San Juan simply 5 days later. That was shortly after Marquez had misplaced a break up choice in opposition to Antonio Cervantes for the WBA tremendous-gentle(weight) title. So, in that case, two main fights in 5 days.
In his profession, Garcia fought in nineteen completely different international locations: Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Kingdom, USA and Venezuela.
Within the USA, he fought in eight completely different States: Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Texas. He confronted fourteen fighters who had received or would go on to win variations of a world title and seventeen who had challenged or would go on to problem, for a model of a title.
Jose Napoles: Robinson fought the legend twice
He confronted Jose Napoles twice, Carlos Hernandez (who broke Davey Moore’s jaw), Eddie Perkins, Esteban De Jesus, Ken Buchanan, Ismael Laguna, Wilfredo Benitez and a younger Roberto Duran, who was 26-0, 23 by KO/TKO; Robinson went the space with all of them. After his fight with Garcia, Duran was reported as saying, “This Cuban bastard knows a lot about boxing, and I want him to teach me a little of what he knows.”
In his 239 fights, he solely did not final the space 3 times. His losses in opposition to Carmelo Bossi and Boots Monroe have been resulting from cuts, and solely Alfredo Urbina, whom Garcia had crushed beforehand, scored a real stoppage win over Garcia in March 1961. Later that yr, Urbina drew with Sugar Ramos and outpointed Jose Napoles in 1963.
Garcia’s solely title was the Latin American junior light-weight title, which went largely unnoticed because it got here on a present in Havana on 26 February 1958. The present was staged as a part of the Grand Prix. Previous Grand Prix winner Juan Fangio was kidnapped by Fidel Castro’s 26 July motion the day earlier than the race.
The race went forward, and a automobile skidded and ploughed into the gang, killing seven individuals. The boxing present additionally went forward, attended by a assortment of celebrities from Joe Louis to cowboy star Gene Autry.
In the fights that night time, two Cubans, Oscar Suarez and Jose Ramon Flores, suffered losses in opposition to Mexican opposition. Flores misplaced on factors in opposition to Alvaro Gutierrez, however extra severely, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. Thankfully, Flores survived and recovered.
The third Cuban, Orlando Echevarria, was knocked out in a single spherical by Joe Brown. With all these incidents, Garcia’s ninth-spherical stoppage of Panamanian Isidro Martinez handed nearly unnoticed.
Garcia constructed big followings in France and Spain throughout his stays there and was nonetheless combating guys corresponding to Benitez, Billy Backus, Clyde Gray, and Willie Monroe as he neared his 40s earlier than retiring after beating 17-1 Belgian Pol Payen, in Belgium, in February 1978 on the age of 40.
In with a celebrity: Robinson fought Benitez (above)
Away from the ring, Garcia was no carbon lower-out however a actual individual with severe flaws. He blew no matter cash he earned. He was a serial womaniser, nearly a intercourse addict who it was claimed typically had intercourse earlier than the weigh-in, after the weigh-in, and after the fight.
Robinson additionally struggled with alcohol and medication and was usually in bother with the regulation. Early in his profession, the Cuban Commission suspended him for his “dissolute” life. His love affair with France ended after he abandoned his pregnant spouse and spent two months in jail on costs of pimping. The French Federation banned him for seven years.
He was jailed after a brawl with some Sudanese sailors in Genoa, and fight determine Ferdie Pacheco stated that Garcia as soon as informed him that he spent six months in an Italian jail for beating up a lady.
Those 2005 rounds of boxing finally caught up with Garcia. After retiring, he returned to Paris. He had liver and kidney issues and was practically blind.
Sleeping tough, the highway warrior was homeless, helpless and destitute. It’s stated that French movie star Jean-Paul Belmondo recognised him and appealed to Fidel Castro, who allowed Garcia to return to Cuba and finish his life there.
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