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Alan Garcia’s journey is full of sacrifices and struggles

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At just 21 years antique, lightweight boxer Alan “Kid Kansas” Garcia has experienced more hardships than many people experience in a lifetime.

Garcia returns to Glendale, Arizona on Friday in a fight before the Jaime Munguia-Erik Bazinyan fight. He will face Ricardo Fernandez (15-13, 1 KO), a 31-year-old Spaniard, in an eight-round fight at the Desert Diamond Arena.

Raised in Ulysses, a petite town in southwest Kansas, Garcia (14-0, 11 KOs) began boxing at age seven. Despite his love for the sport, he knew his future wouldn’t be in Kansas.

“I’ve been boxing since I was seven, but when I turned 17 I moved to Los Angeles to train with Coach G, and I’ve been with her since I turned pro,” Garcia said. If I had stayed in Kansas, I wouldn’t be where I am today. There are no opportunities there.”

Garcia’s move to Los Angeles wasn’t just about boxing; it was about pursuing his future. His trainer, Gloria Alvarado, known as “Coach G,” promised to make him a star. She had seen his potential ever since she watched him fight at the Nationals when he was 13 or 14. “A lot of people get nervous about the Nationals,” Alvarado said. “But this kid was always one punch away from winning, and he never gave up. He had a smile on his face, proud of his performance, even when the politics of the amateurs didn’t give him a decision.”

Their bond grew over time. Alvarado’s daughter, Roxy Verduzco, introduced her to Garcia, and after watching him fight in an Olympic qualifier and lose a decision she thought he deserved, Alvarado knew she had to lend a hand. “I told him, ‘I’m going to make you a superstar, but you have to be patient,’” Alvarado recalled. Garcia took a risk, moving to Los Angeles at 17, where Alvarado took legal custody of him because he wasn’t yet 18.

Garcia’s journey is not just about sacrifice, but also struggle. In his sophomore year in Los Angeles, his younger brother, Christopher Garcia, was shot in a Kansas park on April 28, 2021. He was just 14 when he died. Garcia had just returned home to visit after the fight. Christopher lived for six days before he died. “It turned my life upside down,” Garcia said. “I was going through it like anyone else. But I got back on track and decided to keep going; to keep doing what I was doing.”

The losses didn’t stop there. During the fight week before his last fight in August, Garcia got a call from his sister telling him that his friend, Xavier Castaneda, had been fatally stabbed at a house party in Kansas. The sadness weighed on Garcia, even as he tried to focus on the fight. “I was focused, but subconsciously it was there. I think I threw every punch with emotion,” Garcia said.

Alvarado, who has been by his side throughout, knows that Garcia doesn’t just fight with skill — he fights with heart. “We’re very close, and he trusts me,” Alvarado said. “I know when he’s fighting with emotion or anger, and I can see it in his eyes. But when he hears my voice in the corner after the first round, he pulls himself together. He’s so disciplined and has that intensity and pace that can take him from round one to round 12 if I let him.”

For Alvarado, Garcia’s potential is limitless. “He’s focused, disciplined and he wants this more than anything,” she said. “Every time he wakes up, he has the same dream — to be a champion. And he’s on the right track.”

Signed to Top Rank Inc., Garcia has steadily climbed the lightweight division. Despite his rise, memories of his loved ones, especially Christopher, fuel his every move. “I miss him every day,” Garcia said. “But I know I have to move on. I have to make sure his memory lives on with every fight I win.”

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Boxing

Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois Live Score & Analysis

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Anthony Joshua returns to Wembley Stadium in London for the fourth time to face IBF heavyweight world champion Daniel Dubois on Saturday (DAZN PPV).

Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) from Watford, England, is a two-time heavyweight champion. He won the IBF title in 2016 by defeating Charles Martin, became a three-belt unified champion by defeating Wladimir Klitschko in ESPN’s Fight of the Year in 2017, and in 2018 he took the WBO title from Joseph Parker.

Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), from London, is a former IBF interim champion who was elevated to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt in June to allow for a rematch with Tyson Fury.

Also on the card, Joshua Buatsi will face Willy Hutchinson in a 12-round fight for the vacant WBO interim featherlight heavyweight title. Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs), from Accra, Ghana, now based in London, has won 13 of his first 15 fights by knockout but has gone the distance in his last three, including a dominant performance against Dan Azeez in February.

Hutchinson (18-1, 13 KOs), from Carstairs, Scotland, was quickly rising through the ranks of the UK boxing world until March 2021, when he lost by fifth-round TKO to Lennox Clarke. Hutchinson recovered and won his next five fights.

Stay here for live scores and analysis from London.

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Live Boxing Tonight: Joshua vs Dubois – London Results

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Image: Live Boxing Tonight: Joshua vs. Dubois Results From London

Anthony Joshua fights Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title tonight in the main event at a sold-out Wembley Stadium on PPV. The event will take place in front of 96,000 fans and will be broadcast live on DAZN PPV.

We’ll be posting live updates and results from today’s events below.

– IBO Super Featherweight Champion Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KO) defeated the former 126-pound champion Josh Warrington (34-4-1, 8 KOs) via wide, 12-round unanimous decision in a surprisingly close fight. The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111.

Cacace, 35, hurt Warrington several times in the fourth round with demanding punches. Warrington managed to stifle Cacace’s power and negate his reach advantage, keeping the action inside for most of the fight.

In the final three rounds, Cacace did a better job of keeping the fight on the outside, but Warrington often closed the distance to clinch and strike. In the tenth round, Cacace was cut above the left eye in a headbutt from the bullish Warrington.

In rounds one and two, Warrington was at his best, landing combinations from the inside and preventing Cacace’s longer arms from gaining an advantage with his punches. Unfortunately for Warrington, he was unable to prevent Cacace from getting to the outside to connect with his powerful punches.

Despite the loss, Warrington looked good, but didn’t have the size or strength to carry him to victory. The super featherweight Cacace was too substantial for him. Warrington doesn’t fit into the 130-pound division and needs to drop back down to 126 to be at his best.

– Bloody and battered, looking Josh Kelly (16-1-1, 8 KO) defended Ishmael Davis (13-1, 8 KOs) and dodged a bullet, winning a 12-round majority decision in this middleweight fight. The scores were 114-114, 115-113, and 115-114.

The replacement opponent, Davis, 29, started slowly but came out sturdy in the twelfth round to land powerful blows to the exhausted Kelly’s head. Bleeding from a cut above his left eye and across the bridge of his nose, Kelly was forced to move and hold on to survive the twelfth round.

The action in this round was reminiscent of Kelly’s 2021 knockout loss to David Avanesyan. He crumbled under Avanesyan’s pressure just as he did in the 12th round against Davis tonight. However, the 30-year-old Kelly accumulated enough early rounds to win a narrow decision, but it wasn’t an impressive performance on his part.

– In the welterweight fight, Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KO) caused a surprise by defeating the lightweight Mark Chamberlain (16-1, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision in ten rounds. Scores: 95-93, 96-92, 96-92.

Padley, 28, floored Chamberlain in the eighth round with a powerful left hook that caught him off guard. In the ninth round, Chamberlain was penalized one point for shoving Padley.

Event Information

Start time: 11:00am Eastern Time/4:00pm UK Time
The star of the evening will enter the ring at approximately 5:00 PM EST/10:00 PM UK time

PPV main card at 11:00 ET

Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois
Tyler Denny vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
Anthony Cacace vs. Josh Warrington
Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson
Mark Chamberlain vs. Josh Padley
Josh Kelly vs. Ishmael Davis

The undercard is more aimed at British fans, as the American audience is not very familiar with either name. So many Americans will buy the event on PPV to see the Joshua-Dubois fight and won’t be too interested in the other fights.

Ideally, organisers would have scheduled one or two good fights featuring fighters from the US or Mexico to balance out the event, rather than tilting it 100% in favour of UK fans.

Joshua is fighting a high-caliber fighter for the first time in two years, after a second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. It remains to be seen whether two-time heavyweight champion Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) is mentally and physically ready for a teenage talent like Dubois. That’s crucial for Joshua, who needs a win to show he still has something in him.

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Joshua and Dubois fight behind the back of a true champion

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DANIEL Dubois and Anthony Joshua face off tonight with the IBF version of the world heavyweight championship on the line. For me it takes away a bit from the fight that the title has been attached to it when everyone knows Oleksander Usyk is the real champion and has beaten both men without a defeat.

Boxing has a tendency to shoot itself in the foot and I think this is another example of that. After all, we had an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and we lost him before the champion had a chance to get back in the ring.

I think the fight itself will be intriguing while it lasts, but Joshua will win in the first half. Dubois will be hazardous, but I think Joshua will be too good tonight. Daniel was relatively basic to land a straight right against Hrgovic in his last outing, and if he continues like that this weekend, it could be a brief night.

Joshua will have to be very careful on the defensive end though, as Dubois’ undoubted power has the potential to cause an upset. If Dubois were to win, I don’t think it would be as large of a surprise as when Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz in 2019, so that’s definitely a real possibility.

Earlier rumors that Dubois hurt Joshua during sparring added some spice to the whole spectacle, but sparring and fighting are two completely different things and I don’t think it will affect the fight.

Riyadh’s season card at Wembley isn’t the only show I’ll be looking out for this Saturday. The club I train at, Paddy John’s ABC, also has its first show of the season. We currently have nine of our boxers competing in it, and it’s the first show we’ve done since December last year.

It will be good to get back in the boxing ring, especially considering the fact that I won’t be the one getting punched in the face. We have a few boxers making their debuts on the show, a few experienced guys and a few who have come from other clubs who are having their first fights with us.

It was pretty stressful doing the matchmaking and I wasn’t able to match some of our boxers that I would have liked, but it wasn’t the hardest show to match compared to some I’ve done in the past. Maybe there aren’t as many eyes watching it, but without these grassroots amateur shows we would never have seen these large stadiums.

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