He Came, to See, but Conquered as Late Stand-In in a Title Bout

Imagine calling a spectator out of the stands in the seventh game of the World Series, handing him a uniform and a bat and then watching him hit the game-winning home run.

Imagine bringing a guy down from the luxury boxes, giving him a pair of cleats and seeing him kick the Super Bowl-winning field goal.

Whoa, whoa. You say our imagination is running a little wild. You say we ought to take these scripts over to Disney and see if even they would buy them.

You say this stuff only happens in reel life--where angels roam the outfield, water boys become football heroes and a bum like Rocky Balboa beats Apollo Creed--but never in real life.

You are wrong.

It happened last Saturday when Isidro Garcia got a Christmas present beyond his wildest dreams at a place fittingly named Fantasy Springs in Indio.

Garcia went to watch a world title fight, wound up stepping into the ring himself and winning the championship.

Now this is not quite as far-fetched as it might sound. It’s not as if Garcia is some 250-pound couch potato or some Adam Sandler look-alike who stumbled into the ring and miraculously won when his opponent was hit by a falling beam or some other convenient plot device.

Garcia is a bona fide flyweight, a good Los Angeles fighter who had a 19-1-1 record before Saturday and is the reigning North American Boxing Organization champion.

The problem was that Garcia wasn’t ready to fight Saturday. Competing in the 112-pound division, Garcia weighed 123 pounds and had only been to the gym sporadically in recent days.

The fight, for the vacant World Boxing Organization flyweight championship, was supposed to have been between Jose Lopez of Puerto Rico and Alejandro Montiel of Mexico.

Garcia had come to the fight with his trainer, Javier Capetillo, who had other fighters on the card.

” 1/8Garcia 3/8 just wanted to watch the two guys in case he ever had to fight them,” said Frank Espinoza, his manager.

But certainly not Saturday.

The fight was scheduled to begin at 5:30. At 3:30, Garcia was hanging around the casino area, eating a candy bar and enjoying a soft drink.

Espinoza was in his Hacienda Heights home. The phone rang. It was Ricardo Maldonado, promoter of the Fantasy Springs card. Montiel was experiencing numbness, Espinoza was told, and could not fight.

So why was Maldonado calling him, Espinoza wanted to know.

“Could Garcia take Montiel’s place?” Maldonado asked.

“Garcia? Where is he?” asked Espinoza.

“He’s here at the casino,” said Maldonado.

For the next 45 furious minutes, Espinoza went back and forth on the phone between Garcia and Maldonado.

At first, Garcia wasn’t interested. Here he was sitting with his candy bar and his soft drink, overweight and unprepared, and he was going to fight for a title in less than two hours? No way.

Montiel had agreed to a purse of $10,000.

But as Garcia resisted and time ticked away, Maldonado began raising the amount until it reached $28,000.

That was too tempting to pass up.

At 4:15, Garcia agreed.

Now all that was needed was approval by the California State Athletic Commission and new contracts to be drawn.

Oh, yeah, a little matter of equipment. Garcia obviously had none with him.

Since Lopez had ballooned to 122 pounds since the weigh-in the day before, the weight was not a problem. The contracts were finalized.

Garcia was given trunks, shoes and even a protective cup previously used by other fighters.

As for the mouthpiece, one was hastily purchased over the counter. Fighters like to carefully mold their mouthpieces, meticulously soaking them in warm water until a comfortable fit is made.

No time for that.

Garcia’s store-bought model was shoved into a cup of hot coffee to loosen it up and then shoved into his mouth.

Espinoza jumped into his car after the agreement was made and raced to Indio. He arrived in the fourth round of what had become a tough, competitive fight.

By the eighth round, it was still close. Would Garcia’s lack of preparation betray him?

He came on strong at the end to win by a unanimous decision, 116-112, 116-112, 115-112.

“Somebody’s looking over me,” Garcia said through an interpreter. “What a Christmas present.”

Said Espinoza, jokingly: “I get my fighter a $28,000 purse and a world title while I’m sitting at home. What a manager I am.”

And what a movie it will make.

SPEAKING OF MOVIES

Director Ron Shelton, whose list of excellent sports films ranges from “Bull Durham” to “Tin Cup,” already has beaten the Garcia saga to the screen.

Shelton has a new boxing movie opening in Los Angeles today and going into general release next month titled “Play It to the Bone,” in which two fighters, played by Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson, agree to take a match on about 10 hours’ notice on the undercard of a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas even though they must first drive there from L.A.

There are all sorts of complications. The Banderas and Harrelson characters are best friends, are in love with the same woman, played by Lolita Davidovich, and both need a victory to resurrect their careers.

Shelton has done a masterful job of getting into the head of a fighter, but his idea was based on something similar to Saturday’s situation in Indio.

In 1965, two L.A. fighters were recruited for the undercard of a Sugar Ray Robinson bout in Vegas on the day of the fight. Those two fighters put on what publicist Bill Caplan calls “the greatest preliminary fight I ever saw.”

A search is underway to find those two fighters--Polo Corona and Pulga Serrano--and bring them back for the premiere of the film.

Anyone with information about their whereabouts can call Caplan at (818) 831-0046.

SPEAKING OF SEARCHES

The California State Athletic Commission is holding refunds for fighters who contributed to the Professional Boxers’ Pension Fund.

But only until Friday, the last day of the year.

Any boxer who fought in California any time from 1981 to April 30, 1996, may be eligible for the refund.

Former World Boxing Assn. super-middleweight champion Steve Little, who has terminal cancer and six children to support, recently learned that he qualified, giving him money he desperately needed.

Those who think they are eligible can call (916) 263-2195, send a fax to (916) 263-2197, e-mail Kathy Chilimidos at Chilimidos@dca.ca.gov or write to the California State Athletic Commission, 1424 Howe Ave., Suite 33, Sacramento CA 95825.