Boxing and brotherly love

Hector Luis Garcia grew up in a house with six brothers, five sisters. 

“My parents, Jose and Gloria, instilled humility and good values,” Garcia said. “Every day was motivation to get ahead since we had few resources.”

One of Garcia’s older brothers, Darlyn, took him to a boxing gym when he was 14.

Garcia’s professional debut was a third-round knockout of Marlembron Acuna in December 2016, after which he went 4-0 in 2017. “The Android” stopped all five opponents in 2018.

The year 2019 brought a pair of big victories over Ronal Ron (April) and Anvar Yunusov (July). A steady southpaw, Garcia considers himself a combination of former champions Oscar De La Hoya and Argenis Mendez, the latter of whom is a Dominican countryman. 

“Anvar Yunusov was a great, important victory. He was a very experienced boxer and not an easy fight,” Garcia said. “I define myself as a boxer with Oscar’s style and Argenis’ skills. I recognize I’m a left-hander who trusts my fists.”

“I began my career as a boxer under the guidance of coach Marino Minaya,“ Garcia said. “Darlyn was a great motivational boost for my boxing practices.”

Over the course of more than 100 amateur bouts, Garcia earned gold medals in the 2013 Bolivarian Games in Peru, the 2014 Pan American Festival Games in Mexico City and the 2014 Central American Games in Veracruz, Mexico.

Garcia earned a silver medal in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, was Boxer Of The Year in a 2015 Elite Boxing Gala, and represented The Dominican Republic in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

“I received the nickname, ‘The Android,’ while I was on the National Team,” Garcia said. “My teammates gave it to me for being strong and intelligent.”

Rising to the occasion

Garcia won twice more in 2021 by one-knockdown, fourth-round TKO of Miguel Moreno Gonzalez (July) and eighth-round unanimous decision over Mexican southpaw Isaac Avelar (December). This set up a showdown versus unbeaten sensation Chris Colbert on February 26, 2022.  

Fighting as a late replacement on 19-days notice, Garcia battered Colbert, scoring a seventh-round knockdown during a near shutout (118-109 twice, 119-108) unanimous decision victory in a super featherweight world title eliminator at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. 

“When I was told three weeks ago that I was going to take this fight, I thought my life was going to change. I needed to come in my best shape and I want to give a lot of credit to (trainer Ismael Salas), who gave me the confidence to say, ‘You can win this fight,’” said Garcia.

“I told them not to go to sleep, because I have power in both of my arms. That was the key. I came back with that power shot and knocked him down. In the ninth or 10th round, I don’t remember, but I hit him so hard with a body shot and after that I knew I had him, he wasn’t going to be a boxer anymore.”

WORLD TITLE GLORY

On August 20, 2022, Garcia took on WBA 130-pound World Champ Roger Gutierrez at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. in a Premier Boxing Champions Event on SHOWTIME. Once again, Garcia upset the odds, dictating the action and surviving a late rally to wrest the Championship from Gutierrez via a unanimous decision by scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 118-110 from Alexander Levin, Michael Ross and Fred Fluty to remain undefeated at 16-0 with 10 KOs.

“It means a lot to me to win this title,” Garcia said. “I dedicate it to my people, the entire Dominican Republic and my town, San Juan de la Maguana. In the pros, nobody knew me. But in the amateurs, people knew my name. I went to the Olympics – it was my dream. I had a good run. [Gutierrez] was looking for the right punch to take me down, but I was able to dominate, dictate the pace of the fight and get the win.”

A focused and strategic Garcia kept Gutierrez on his back foot for most of the fight as he fed the titleholder a steady diet of up-jabs and hard lefts to rack up the first nine rounds on all three scorecards. But Gutierrez stormed back in the later rounds, winning the final three frames on two of the judges’ scorecards as the southpaw Garcia appeared to tire and was squaring himself up. Gutierrez (26-4-1, 20 KOs) pushed Garcia back with right hands, his energy and punch-output surging. He appeared to hurt Garcia in the 11th round with a right as Garcia sagged against the ropes, but Garcia answered with lefts and rights of his own to blunt the rally.

Garcia out-landed Gutierrez 156-116 in total punches and landed 35% of his power punches.

SEEKING OUT NEW CHALLENGES

On January 7, 2023, Garcia moved up to the lightweight weight class to take on division king Gervonta "Tank" Davis on SHOWTIME Pay-Per-View. The Premier Boxing Champions event drew 19,731 people to Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., setting a new gate record for the venue.

Garcia fought well in the early going, giving as good as he got. However, the great Davis maintained his composure, patiently breaking him down before hurting him badly with his vaunted left hand late in the eighth round. Visibly shaken on his way back to the corner, Garcia stayed on his stool as the bell for round nine rang. Moments later, his trainer Bob Santos advised referee Albert Earl Brown to stop the fight, with the official stoppage coming 13 seconds into round nine.

“When I got the shot to my head in the final round, that’s when I couldn’t see from my eye,” said Garcia. “I didn’t know where I was when he hit me with that shot. My vision is back but my head still hurts. I couldn’t see from my right eye. It was going well up until that point. I was picking my shots.”

Garcia would move back down to 130-pounds to defend his title in his next bout. In a hotly-contested fight, Garcia would drop a 12-round decision to top contender Lamont Roach. Scores read 116-111, 114-113 and 113-114 in this highly technical and strategic fight. The knockdown in the 12th was the difference as Roach avoided a split-draw with a left-hook that landed on the top of García’s head with 1:20 left in the frame and drove García into the canvas for the second time in his career.