Heavyweight Garcia Turns Professional : Gives Up Chance at Olympic Gold

It was called Fernandomania, and it swept across Southern California with the speed and ferocity of a Santa Ana wind. It was a natural--a left-handed pitcher from a small Mexican village who became an instant superstar for the Dodgers, right in the middle of the largest Mexican-American community in the country.

Could Alexmania be next?

National amateur super heavyweight champion Alex Garcia has decided to test his commercial appeal by turning professional. Garcia, a Mexican-American from San Fernando, will make his professional debut Feb. 6 at the Reseda Country Club on a card to be televised by the ESPN cable network. He is scheduled to go four rounds against an undetermined opponent.

“There are people calling Alex a gold mine,” said his manager-trainer-mentor, Blinky Rodriguez, who certainly is doing nothing to discourage such talk. “There is a lot of interest in him. The Mexican people have been waiting to see a nice, big heavyweight who can fight like hell. They’ve been waiting a long time. It’s time to show not only L.A. but the whole country who he is and who he has the ability to be. Let’s get some Alexmania going.”

As long as Garcia fights in the Valley, there at least should be some San Fernandomania.

While the hype is understandable from someone in Rodriguez’s position, there can be little argument that the Hispanic community, staunch supporters of Mexican-American champions in lighter divisions, happily would embrace a bona fide heavyweight.

And there can be little argument that Garcia, 25, showed the potential to be that heavyweight in his brief amateur career. He won 21 of his 25 fights, 17 by knockout. A silver medalist earlier this year at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Reno, Garcia lost only to three-time World and Olympic champion Teofilo Stevenson of Cuba on a second-round TKO.

In addition to his national title, Garcia is state amateur champion, a two-time Southern California Golden Glove champion and a Southern California Diamond Belt titlist.

Who knows what the future might have held as an amateur? Perhaps, by turning professional, Garcia turned his back on a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. But that would have meant waiting 1 1/2 more years, and time is not exactly in Garcia’s corner. He would have been 27 by the time the ’88 Games ended, a relatively late age to be starting a professional career--especially for heavyweights, who tend to add weight to their middle as they add years to their life.

An incident of violence as a teen-ager gave Garcia his late start. He served five years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of a rival San Fernando gang member. Now, two years after being released from prison, Garcia is becoming a professional.

“This is something we gave a lot of thought to,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not something where we just said, ‘Let’s go pro.’ But for Alex to remain an amateur until he’s 27, I think, is stretching it a little. I am confident he could have won the gold, but anything could happen between now and Seoul. It’s hard to stay an amateur that long. We decided, instead of procrastinating, let’s get going.”

Said Garcia: “Some people were telling me to wait, but they are not the ones who were going to have to wait.”

There was another factor. Rodriguez and Garcia never quite adjusted to the strict rules of the U.S. boxing team, rules that required Garcia to go to Colorado Springs and follow the training program there.

“I just didn’t get enough sparring,” Garcia said. “They get you in good shape, but you don’t get enough boxing. It’s like anything else. If you don’t practice, you don’t improve. They have you hit the bag a lot, but the bag don’t go anywhere. Drills are only good for so much. They had me spar just two rounds three times in three weeks. That’s the way they work it because they think you might burn out. Does that make any sense? I think it was really stupid.”

Said Rodriguez: “Alex was forced to leave his natural habitat and go into a whole different setup. It was hard for me to digest. It’s not a matter of pride, but who can do the better job in training him? I think I can motivate him more, teach him more.”

Garcia won’t need much sparring in his new career. Rodriguez plans to get the 6-3, 216-pounder as many as two fights a month.

“I think he’ll do fine,” Leslie King, an official with the USA Amateur Boxing Federation, said from Colorado Springs. “At this time last year, I hadn’t even heard of him. He’s had a meteoric rise. But then you look at Mike Tyson. He lost at the Olympic trials, he lost in the Olympic boxoff, the Golden Gloves and U.S. championships, so who’s to say?”

At 20, Tyson became the youngest World Boxing Council heavyweight champion in history. His awesome punching power has left a lot of other heavyweights wondering whether they want to join him in the ring.

Not Garcia.

“I see myself fighting him,” Garcia said of Tyson. “I hope to fight for the title by the end of 1988. There’s no way I should be afraid of Tyson. If you’re afraid of a man before you get in the ring, you’re already beat.”