Dino Garza Is Growing Up Within a Family Tradition

Don’t be misled by the fact that Dino Garza is only 20. Or that he’s had only two professional fights, both of which he has won, one by knockout.

This kid was fighting when he was 7. And fighting a future world champion, no less.

Never mind that the opponent was an older brother, Jaime Garza, later to become the World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champ. Or that Jaime, then 14, was merely sitting on his knees, playfully tossing fists in the face of this kid.

It wasn’t play time for the younger Garza. He decided right then that this was what he wanted to do with his life. After a 40-6 amateur career that included 30 knockouts, Dino joined the Ten Goose Boxing Club of North Hollywood.

“You can’t compare a prelim fighter to a world champion,” says trainer Joe Goossen of the two Garzas, “but I would say that Dino can reach the same heights, if not more.”

Of immediate importance, however, is Tuesday night when Garza, now a featherweight living in Granada Hills, will meet Gene Salazar (3-5, two knockouts) of Bakersfield in a four-round bout at the Reseda Country Club. In Salazar’s last appearance, also at the Country Club, he was knocked out by Tracy Patterson, adopted son of Floyd Patterson, the former two-time heavyweight champion.