It’s Getting Too Noisy in This Corner

When some boxers train for a fight, their minds are often tuned to just one frequency. Only one sound gets through: the voice of their trainer.

It is that voice which implores them during training to run faster, hit harder, move quicker, to spar one more round, jump rope for 10 more seconds.

It is the last voice they hear before marching out to the center of the ring to do battle, and the first they hear when they return to their corner. It’s the voice that supplies them confidence when they are behind and preaches caution when they are ahead.

To silence that special voice could prove fatal to a fighter’s hopes.

For 24-year-old Alex Garcia, the voice in his corner is really special.

When Garcia got out of prison 18 months ago after serving five years on a voluntary manslaughter conviction for the stabbing death of a rival gang member, he thought about being a fighter. Having grown up in San Fernando, he knew of Blinky Rodriguez, who had become a Valley legend in kick boxing and is co-owner of the Benny the Jet martial arts center in Van Nuys.

Garcia put his career in the skilled hands of Rodriguez who became his manager, trainer and mentor. The result: In little over a year, Garcia has a 17-2 record and the title of national amateur champion in the super heavyweight class. Garcia fought in Sacramento this weekend in the USA-USSR team competition, and it was Rodriguez’s voice that screamed out from Garcia’s corner, just as always.

But that voice has been silent the last couple of weeks. At least as far as Garcia is concerned.

Rodriguez is not happy about it and not afraid to voice his opinion on the subject. Under the rules for the national boxing team, of which Garcia is now a member, a fighter is removed from his environment for the last few weeks before a team event. The team trains as a unit at the U.S. Olympic facilities in Colorado Springs.

“It’s not fair,” Rodriguez said. “Alex is almost like my son. I’ve always been in his corner, the one pushing him along, trying to give him the right mentality, trying to give him the same life out of the gymnasium as in it, so that he realizes this is a 24-hour job. I was working with him for five weeks. I had it all mapped out, a complete program. It was like sharpening an ax. I had it all set for Alex to spar with former heavyweight champion Mike Weaver before the Russian competition.

“But instead, he was yanked from me. It was ultimatum time. They said, ‘He either comes with us or we’ll find someone else.’ I said, ‘Wow, OK.’ Sure, they’ve got a good program there, but boxing is not a team sport. Everyone has their own personal chemistry. We just get the most out of Alex.

“I’m not out to stir up controversy, but I’m going to speak my feelings. If you do a job and someone else is trying to take the credit, it’s not very fair.

“It’s like you bought a corsage for a girl and brought her to the prom and someone else wants to dance with her all night.”

It’s not that he feels Garcia must always dance and jab to his tune, Rodriguez insists.

“I will never let pride get in the way,” he said. “If I feel that I can’t teach Alex anymore, I’ll look for the right guy to train him.

“But I’ll still be there in his corner. You get used to one voice.”

There are other voices in this issue and they don’t all agree with Rodriguez. Bob Surkein was president of the U.S. Amateur Boxing Federation from 1976-1980 and estimates he has officiated 10,000 amateur bouts. He thinks Garcia belongs in Colorado Springs.

“This is a team sport in international competition,” Surkein said. “It’s nation against nation. There’s a team score. It is the job of team officials to assure that all the boxers are training under ideal conditions, which means proper food, proper sparring and proper rest, that they are aware of international rules and that they understand how the referees operate.”

He’s seen the other side, Surkein said. “I’ve had fighters show up in camp who, because of lack of discipline, might be overweight by 10 pounds or haven’t had a square meal in days. They were just eating junk food, and not much of that.”

As for Garcia sparring with Weaver, forget it, Surkein said. “That would not help at all. All the things you learn from pro boxers--counterpunching, pushing, spinning--are all counterproductive in international competition. The idea on the international level is to score as many points as you can. They do not score by rounds. The number of blows determines who wins and who loses.”

Don’t get the idea Surkein is negative about Garcia.

“If he were to stay in Colorado Springs and have five or six international fights a year for the next two years,” Surkein said, “he’d be the next Olympic heavyweight champion. I’d bet on it.”

It sure can get confusing when you’re 24 years old, have all this talent and all these different voices you can listen to.