Best I Faced: Loreto Garza

Loreto Garza’s boxing journey took him all the way from Northern California to France, from dreaming kid to world champion.

Garza, who was the youngest of seven children, was born on May 23, 1962, and grew up surrounded by family in Northgate, a suburb of Sacramento.

“We were poor. Being the youngest, I got all the hand-me downs,” Garza told The Ring. “My family loved boxing. I remember sitting down with my dad and brother watching boxing, and Roberto Duran came out with a belt around his waist and I looked at him and I told myself, ‘That’s who I want to be.’ 

“I grew up backyard boxing. I have a brother one year older than me and we probably boxed every day as children. It was never taught; there was no training. I did that all the way until I was 15, 16.”

Garza in 1985. (The Ring archive)

Things got more serious when one of his older brothers mentioned an amateur boxing tournament at the state fair. Soon after attending, Garza went to a local gym and quickly showed promise. Just three months later, he had his first amateur fight. 

He went on to win three state Golden Gloves tournaments before deciding his future lay in the professional ranks.

Garza turned professional as a junior welterweight and made $300 for a second-round knockout of fellow debutant Don Canada in February 1983.

Five fights later, however, his pro career hit an early speed bump when he lost to a largely unknown opponent in less-than-ideal circumstances.

“The night I fought [Francisco Tomas] Da Cruz, my [original] opponent didn’t show,” he explained. “They go, ‘Da Cruz doesn’t have a fight. Why don’t we match them up?’ Of course, I don’t know who he is, but I’m 5-0 with 5 knockouts and I’m thinking, ‘I’ll fight anybody.’”

It didn’t prove to be the correct decision, and Garza was dropped twice and stopped in the fourth round by the Brazilian, who later lost a world title challenge to Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez.

Garza got back to winning ways, reeling off several wins before he stepped up in class in 1988. 

“I was getting better and better,” he said. “Charlie ‘Choo Choo’ Brown was supposed to beat me, but I stopped him in four, and Harry Arroyo was supposed to beat me to get another title shot, but I caught him early and stopped him in the first round.”

Garza says that fighting Warren with one good eye was a valuable experience. (Photo by Bryan Patrick/The Ring archive)

Garza continued his upward trajectory by stopping another former world champion, Joe Manley (KO 7), in early 1989. 

A few months later, he was presented with the opportunity to gain revenge against Da Cruz. 

“It’s in your mind: ‘This guy beat me once,’” he said. “I didn’t think he was better than me; he was better that day. He caught me. But in a rematch, I controlled the fight from the beginning and stopped him in four rounds.”

Next came once-beaten Frankie Warren for the USBA 140-pound title in the summer of 1989. 

“We were told the winner fights Juan Coggi in three months,” recalled Garza, who won a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision. “I had two months to prepare for that fight. I was top of my game … I knew I had to keep on my toes, keep him off-balance and use a lot of jabs, which I did.

“I cut him in five different places and ended up tearing his retina in two places, so he had to retire after that fight. He was a very hard fight; I learned a lot from that fight and I learned to fight with one eye, because I had never been cut before.”

Garza expected he’d fight Coggi soon afterward, but a year would pass before he got the call to face the WBA titleholder from Argentina.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” he vividly recalled. “My coach called me up and said, ‘We’ve got that world title shot.’ I’m excited and say, ‘When is it?’ He said, ‘Well, it’s going to be in 17 days.’ I said, ‘What?’ They’re saying take it or leave it. I’m like, ‘I can’t let it go,’ and then he goes, ‘And we’ve got to go to France to fight.’ 

via ZeffieTowers2 on YouTube:

“I knew I couldn’t say no, because otherwise I may never get another shot. So, I took the shot. I trained as hard as I could in two weeks. Getting the weight off was a struggle. I believe I was 148 pounds when they told me about the fight.”

Although the fight was taking place on neutral territory, Coggi had fought in France previously and was the prohibitive favorite. Due to the late notice he received, Garza felt he had to fight a controlled and disciplined fight.

“One thing I didn’t want to do is fight hard and not have anything left the last three or four rounds,” said Garza, who won a 12-round majority decision. “I had to fight a smart fight. I kept my hands up. I’m going to box him. If I hurt him, I’m going to get on him, and if I don’t get rid of him, I’ll get off him and get back to boxing and try to hurt him again. I didn’t know how much I had to go 12 rounds. I had only been 12 rounds once, against Frankie Warren, and I was in great shape. I thought I won the fight pretty convincingly. I thought I won eight out of the 12 rounds.”

Coggi attended a party that was originally scheduled for the champion, then headed home the following day. He received a warm welcome.

“When I landed at the airport, there were hundreds of people inside the airport. It was so crowded in there,” he said proudly. “I was excited. My mother and father were there; everybody I knew was there.”

Garza got a hero’s welcome after returning to Sacramento with the WBA title. (Photo by Bryan Patrick/The Ring archive)

After enjoying his victory lap, it was quickly time for Garza to think about his next move. His team decided to match their fighter with former lightweight titleholder and two-time 140-pound title challenger Vinny Pazienza. The two met at the Arco Arena in Sacramento in December 1990. By the late rounds, Pazienza was both bloodied and frustrated by Garza’s boxing skills.

“I was well ahead in the fight,” said Garza. “The referee came to my corner the round before and said, ‘He is cut pretty bad; we’re probably going to have to stop this fight.’ I’d never heard this before. I’m expecting the fight to be stopped on cuts. He had five different cuts, and when the fight was stopped [in Round 11], I just assumed he was so cut up that’s why the fight was over. I didn’t know until later on he was disqualified, which I think robbed me from a stoppage.”

Pazienza and Garza in the grinder. (Photo by Bryan Patrick/The Ring archive)

When his promoter, Don Chargin, was unable to make a unification with Chavez, Garza met veteran puncher Edwin Rosario in June 1990.

“I believe he caught me with the very first right hand he threw. Because of that right hand, I was never in the fight. I was never on solid ground, like tipsy; anything he threw could bobble me. I was just not there,” said Garza, who made a career-high payday but was stopped in three rounds.

“Once you get older, you might slow down, but one thing you don’t lose is that punching power. [Rosario] was still young enough to perform. It wasn’t like he was over the hill.”

via Ironbar Boxing on YouTube: 

Garza had a rematch clause, which he tried to invoke without realizing the contract had an end date and the rematch clause had elapsed. The likable Californian was unable to get another title opportunity and watched as his old title was quickly passed from Rosario to Akinobu Hiranaka, who in turn lost it to Morris East, who was stopped by old adversary: Coggi. 

“I thought Coggi will want to fight me again to prove he can beat me,” he said. “When my promoter contacted them, they said they didn’t want to do it. So I never got a shot again.”

Garza in 1990. (Photo by Bryan Patrick/The Ring archive)

It was a frustrating time for Garza (31-2-1, 26 knockouts).

“I started working for [the Department of] Corrections; they’d give me time off to fight if I needed it,” he said. “But I wasn’t getting name fighters. I’m making a lot less money now, it’s not a title fight and I’m getting older. Boxing is boxing; you get no insurance, and I knew I needed to have a life after boxing. I have a wife and kids. I want to enjoy life with them after boxing.

“I thought, ‘It’s time to hang ’em up. I want to retire with my head straight.’ I thought, ‘I’ve had a good career, I made money.’ It’s never enough money anyway, if I get a job with benefits, because money will run out if you don’t continue working or fighting. I made sure I got a decent job so I don’t burn all my money I earned and saved in a couple of years. If I can have a job just to maintain my life.”

Garza worked as a correctional officer for 30 years before retiring in November 2022.

Garza, now 61, is married, has three children from his first marriage and has two grandchildren. He lives in Woodland, in the outskirts of Sacramento.

He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.

BEST JAB  

Joe Manley: “He had a pretty good jab. He seemed to use it at the right times. He made me counter. His hands were always up and he had a good jab, so I had to find my way in to counter his punches.”

BEST DEFENSE  

Juan Coggi: “His hands were always up, and defensively I wouldn’t say he was hard to hit, but I never caught him clean. I’d catch him a couple of times, but he always got away.”

BEST HAND SPEED 

Peter Cunningham: “More of an unknown from earlier in my career is a guy named Peter Cunningham. He had fast hands; he didn’t throw a lot of punches, but when he did, they were fast. I was able to counter him, but I could tell speed-wise he had pretty fast hands.”

BEST FOOTWORK 

Vinny Pazienza: “Not that he had good footwork while he was fighting, but when he stepped out of range, he used his feet well to get positioning.”

SMARTEST  

Coggi: “He had movement in the fight. Even though he was known for being aggressive, I think my speed kind of offset him, so he wasn’t really coming at me. He was trying to wait and see what I was going do. I.Q.-wise, he was a smart fighter.”

STRONGEST 

Pazienza: “When I got close inside, I could feel he was strong and would try to push me around.”

BEST PUNCHER

Edwin Rosario: “Only two people who put me down were De La Cruz early in my career and Rosario. I have to say Edwin Rosario, because he caught me early and I never recovered. I didn’t see the punch coming. I literally looked at the floor and thought, ‘What am I doing on the floor?’ I couldn’t tell you the difference in how it felt. Joe Manley actually hit me with a good right hand that buzzed my whole body numb. I looked at the tapes later and didn’t show any sign of being hurt at all. When Edwin hit me, I just looked at the floor.”

BEST CHIN 

Frankie Warren: “We went 12 rounds. I hit him with some clean shots, and even though I thought I buckled him a few times, I was never able to put him down. I was in great shape for that fight and landed a lot of clean, hard punches, and he was able to take ’em. I tore his retina in two places, but at the end of 12 rounds of fighting, he was still on his feet.”

BEST BOXING SKILLS

Rosario: “When I fought Harry Arroyo, he was known to go the distance and get stronger and stronger as the fight went on, but I caught him in the first round and got rid of him. Watching other fights, he was a very good technical boxer; he had a good jab, moved his head, he came on strong toward the end and threw combinations. Edwin Rosario, he was shorter than most people, but he always had that little head movement, side-to-side, picking punches off and countering. I got nailed early in that fight and I was never able to show what I had and never really saw in a normal sense of boxing what he has, because I fought hurt the rest of the fight. I guess I’ve got to go with the guy who beat me. I would have to say Edwin Rosario.”

BEST OVERALL

​Rosario: “I have to go with Edwin Rosario from his resume. He won titles and fought big names. I was hurt early.”

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

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