Undefeated junior middleweight Vergil Ortiz of Grand Prairie is back in familiar territory. The former top-ranked welterweight is back at the RGBA with head trainer Robert Garcia. Ortiz has gone through several trainers since turning pro in 2016. Ortiz trained with Joel Diaz initially before moving on to train with Robert Garcia, which he did up until late 2021 when he announced he was splitting with the trainer, citing Garcia had opted to work the corner of Joshua Franco in his trilogy with Andrew Moloney in the summer of 2021. Ortiz fought Egidijus Kavaliauskas on the same day at a different location. Garcia said he tried to figure out a way to get a helicopter between the two fights. Ortiz fought in Frisco and Franco in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The logistics didn't work, and despite making less money, Garcia opted to corner Franco's fight despite making considerably less money. Ortiz then opted to work with esteemed trainer Manny Robles for his 2022 fight with Michael McKinson in Fort Worth. Ortizx won the fight via 9th round TKO and has not fought since. His fight with Eimantas Stanionis was postponed multiple times and then finally canceled. Stanionis postponed the date after having emergency appendectomy surgery in January. Ortiz then had to pull out of the fight twice due to a flare-up of his previously diagnosed rhabdomyolysis. Ortiz announced today via social media that he had returned to the RGBA to train with the legendary trainer.
An Incredible Weekend in South Texas
Three action-packed cards invade the south Texas area. Plus, Rio Grande Valley native and former world champion Brandon " The Heartbreaker" Figueroa headlines a Showtime card in southern California.
The action kicks off in Floresville on a Team Morones Boxing Card. A small town of about 7,000 people located about a half hour south of San Antonio will host a major card. In the evening's main event, two unbeaten south texas based bantamweights put their undefeated record on the line as San Antonio native Guillermo Gutierrez puts his 6-0 record on the line against Rio Grande Valley native Jaden Burnias (2-0-2) in the evening's main event. The card also features undefeated Victoria native, Ramon Acosta and Joshua Moreno, 2-0 will battle with Jesus Angulo Leija in a welterweight bout.
Boxing returns to the home of the legendary world champ Orlando and Gaby Canizales Laredo, The Gateway City. Triple AAA promotions will bring you a card live from Sames Auto Arena. Fan Favorite "Tito" Hector Ferreyro Jr returns to the ring for the first time in three years and will look to move his record to 5-0 as he battles Tre' Dobbins of Topeka, Kansas in a four-round Cruiserweight scrap. Also, on the card will be two up-and-coming Laredo natives Jose Cardenas (6-1) and teenage sensation the blue-chip prospect Felix Garcia.
Saturday's other card will be held in boxing's newest hotbed. The Rio Grande Valley. The Hynes Event Center in Mercedes will host the return of three RGV fight legends, each in separate fights. Raul Casarez and Roberto Garcia, who were originally scheduled to fight each other will be in action in separate fights. Casarez will battle for the vacant ABF Mid America Title as he takes on Rodrigo Octavio Gonzalez, who hails from the Austin area. Garcia will also be in action. Also, fans will get to see the return of hard-hitting cruiserweight and Harlingen native Raphael Murphy returns to the ring for the first time in nearly two years as he battles Leopoldo Reyna of Brownsville in an all RGV scrap.
In southern California, former 122-pound world champ and Weslaco native Brandon Figueroa will headline the evening's main event that will take place at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, and will be aired on Showtime, Figueroa, 23-1-1 (18), held world titles from 2019-2022. The now 26-year-old is on a new journey to become a two-division world champion. He battles former featherweight champ Mark Magsayo in a 12-round affair. The bout will be for the WBC interim featherweight belt. The winner will be in line to fight WBC world champ Rey Vargas, who lost his bid to become a three-division world champ when he was shut out by Orange native O'shaquie Foster in the Alamodome last month for the WBC 130-pound strap. Vargas still holds the belt at 126 pounds.
Small Town Hosts Big-Time Shootout Between undefeated Gun Slingers
Floresville is a small town about a half-hour south of San Antonio, population 7,000. A blip on the radar for those outside of the Lone Star State. However, on Friday, March 3rd, the small town will host a major boxing event. The south Texas town will host a Team Morones Boxing (TMB) promoted card that is headlined by two undefeated welterweights with world championship ambitions. 14-0-1 (7) Robert Garcia, 21 years old of Austin, against 22-year-old, Victoria native Ramon Acosts 4-0 (4).
Floresville City Manager Andy Joslin is excited to host the event " We’re so honored to have Ricky Morones and Morones Boxing family bring boxing to our town... It’s a great event, and we are looking forward to it! "
It is a rare occurrence in today's boxing environment, that two young, touted fighters are willing to risk the "0" in their L column against such a dangerous opponent. However, that's exactly what Garcia and Acosta are going to do on March 3rd. When asked if either fighter had any hesitation or needed any convincing to take such a big step up, Morones said, "It wasn't difficult at all. They both wanted it. We agreed on the purse, got out the contracts, and got everything going."
It seems simple enough, but it is an increasingly difficult thing to do in this sport, to get two young, undefeated fighters in the ring together. However, as a result of Morones's work plus Acota and Garcia's willingness to take the risk, the town of Floresville will have a world-class, high-level, meaningful boxing match that also appears to be a 50-50 slugfest on paper.
"It's great! We're so proud to have the event here." City Manager Joslin added.
When Morones, who has been bringing exciting fights to the San Antonio area for 10 years, including delivering cards featuring Bam Rodriguez and Rick Medina, was asked if this is the best main event he has ever made. Morones answered, " I've had some good main events. I always try to put together exciting main events. I had Jairo Castaneda vs James Cantu... but this is a really good fight on paper."
It's a great fight! It's not just a fight between two elite, world-level fighters. It's a can't miss, all-action scrap. Morones noted, "Acosta doesn't take a step backward, and Garcia is a young, strong fighter with a lot of power and a good chin."
The main event has all the ingredients to create an absolutely violent explosion on March 3rd and, create an unforgettable fight that moves the win a major step closer to world title contention. "It's a small town, I have to have a big main event," the promoter added.
In addition to the main event, another important battle of unbeaten fighters will be featured on the card. Highly touted San Antonio-based super flyweight prospect Guillermo Gutierrez, 6-0 (1), will take the biggest challenge of his young and promising career. He puts his unbeaten record on the line against fellow unbeaten and Rio Grande Valley native Jaden Burnias, 2-0-2 (2) in a six-round affair.
Franco-Estrada Unification is Easy to Make and Could Be Next
Legendary little man and current 115-pound world title holder Juan Fransico Estrada could be next for WBA champ San Antonio's own "El Professor" Joshua Franco. According to a report from Izquierdazo.com, A unification bout between the WBA and WBC champ would be easy to make. Franco's trainer Robert Garcia said. Franco was robbed of a career-best win when two of the judges scored his New Year's Eve bout with WBO Super Flyweight champ Kaz Ioka a draw in Ioka's native Japan. The press, observers, and Ioka himself felt Franco should have been declared the winner. He should be the unified champ at 115.
Their performance by Franco was so impressive that he has been viewed and treated as the rightful winner. Perhaps the Texan is not looking to rematch with Ioka. Instead looking to unify with the WBC champion. The two were mandated to fight last year by the WBA. The bout went to pursue bids it was awarded to the highest bidder, Golden Boy Promotions. Estrada opted not to fight Franco, vacated his share of the WBA belt, and took a bout with a non-descript fighter named Argi Cortes in what appeared to most as a duck. After a tougher-than-expected challenge from Cortes, Estrada scored a career-best win over fellow legendary little man Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez to capture the vacant WBC title.
The San Antonian's trainer Robert Garcia, insists that the fight would be easy to make saying, "it's a very easy fight to make, we done have to negotiate with any promoter. We are free of a promoter. We just have to talk to Matchroom's Eddie Hearn and Fernando Beltran (CEO of Zanfer Boxing) so the fight can take place."
Estrada's WBC title was vacated by Franco's little brother Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, who won the belt in early 2022. He defended it twice before he opted to relinquish the belt and move down to his more natural weight of 112 pounds to challenge for the vacant WBO title.
Hector Tanajara Looks to Get Back
Photo Credit: John Ramos @ South Park Boxing Academy
Things have come full circle for "El Finito'' Hector Tanajara, the 25-year-old San Antonio native, is literally back where it all started. Tanajara will battle rugged journeymen Antonio Mieja in Friday night's main event at the Tech Port Arena. Tanajara, a west-side kid, talked about how he remembers kicking around a soccer ball in the area which is now the arena he will headline.
It has been quite a journey for the San Antonian to get here. Not long ago he signed a contract to fight Ryan Garcia. A contract that was never signed by Garcia. A Garcia-Tanajara would have been a mega fight in late 2020 or early 2021. The high-level scrap between two all-world unbeaten lightweight prospects never materialized. A duck by King Ry! Tanajara takes a more humble approach. When asked if he was ducked by the undefeated star. El Finito said "All I know is I signed that contract multiple times."
Tanajara had compiled a 19-0 record and was in discussions for huge fights with both Garcia and now undisputed lightweight champ Devin Haney. Fights that would have put the Texan in another stratosphere and fights he could have won. When Fort Worth-based journeyman Clay Burns, who fought both Tanajara and Haney at similar stages of their careers, was asked who had better skills, Haney or Tanjara? Burns responded without hesitation, "Oh, Hector! That kid is sharp!" That's the level the San Antonian was operating. He still has those "sharp skills" and he still has Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia in the corner.
However, things have taken an unexpected turn for Tanjajara after the mega fight with Garcia fell through. Tanajara returned to the ring against undefeated prospect William Zepeda and suffered his first loss. An unexpected loss in a fight that was supposed to put him in position for a world title. He came back 8-months later in a must-win fight. He looked incredibly sharp in the first half of his battle with Miguel Contreras before running into a brick wall and struggling through the second half of the fight and having to settle for a draw in a fight where he was clearly the sharper and more skilled fighter.
It has been 34 months since Tanajara last won a fight. It was perhaps a career-best win, a one-sided beatdown of Juan Carlos Burgos. He looks to get back on track at a new weight class. He moves up to 140 (jr welterweight) in a move that seems to make sense. He should have more power in the weight class and better stamina which seemed to be his downfall in the second half of the Contreras fight which caused him to have to settle for a draw. "El Finito" seemed to be suffering from the weight cut. 140 looks to be a better fit for Tanajara, who says he "feels good at 140." Head trainer Robert Garcia noted, “Hector is coming off a loss and a draw, and I want to build him back up slowly.” That rebuild starts Saturday night, right back where it all started. The west side of San Antonio, right by where that little kid was once kicking around the soccer ball. He now looks to get back into the world title picture.
Ortiz Parting Ways With Famed Trainer
Many of Texas's top boxing talent has journeyed out west to train at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. Joshua Franco, Bam Rodriguez, Biggie Rodriguez, Hector Tanjara, and many others have called the RGBA home away from home. No double the biggest and brightest name of the bunch was Grand Prairie's own Vergil Ortiz. Ortiz has been training with Garcia for over three years and has gone from a teenage prospect to keep your eye on to perhaps the best young talent in the sport. However, nothing lasts forever and Ortiz and Garcia have amicably split. ESPN had reported this on the ESPN+ card this past Friday and originally reported that Ortiz had moved on to the "Canelo Camp" and was training with famed trained Eddie Reynseso, a San Diego-based camp. Ortiz denies the latter part but former Trainer of The Year Robert Garcia that Ortiz Jr and his father, Vergil Ortiz Sr had told him that they would be parting ways. Garcia stated that he thought the two of them were going to work together and was unaware of any connections to Reynoso's camp.
The famed trainer went on to say that the main reason that Ortiz expressed to him that there were moving on was that Garcia opted to train Joshua Franco in his world title fight against Andrew Moloney instead of Ortiz who had a homecoming date with former world title challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Both men won and won in spectacular fashion. Garcia noted that he worked Franco's corner because he felt the young World Champion needed him there more than Ortiz did. Franco was fighting Moloney for the third time after the rematch was the subject of much controversy. Ortiz, easily disposed of Kavaliauskas after some early struggles. Garcia went on to say that the purse for Ortiz was 3-4 times more than Franco was paid so it wasn't a money-based decision.
Ortiz turned pro in 2016 at Indio California and disposed of Julio Rodas in the first round. He was trained by Joel Diaz, trainer of both Omar and Brandon Figueroa of Weslaco, Ortiz trained with him for a few years before switching camps and going to work in Riverside with Garcia. Moving on from camps is not uncommon and it wasn't the first time Ortiz did so. Making all the outrage and controversy a bit strange. Fighters such as Tyson Fury, Oscar Valdez as well as Maurice Hooker had all changed camps recently and two-time heavyweight champ, and perhaps the biggest financial draw in the sport Anthony Joshua is in the midst of switching camps. It's a fairly common practice in the sport of boxing.