Tagbilaran City, Bohol— On the eve of what was expected to be a slambang 12th edition of the highly-successful Pinoy Pride series, Michael Aldeguer, CEO/president of ALA Promotions, found himself in a situation that no boxing promoter would want to be in.
Everything was already set for the “Bakbakan sa Bohol” fight card when it was discovered that the Genaro Garcia who arrived in Bohol was not the Genaro Garcia that Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista was supposed to face last night at the Carlos P. Garcia Sports Complex.
That the Genaro Garcia who arrived in Bohol was not the Genaro Garcia who had fought eight world champions and was predicted to give Bautista a stiff challenge.
“We are all victims here. We paid for the Genaro Garcia that we wanted. We had the intention to bring the Genaro Garcia who would face Boom-Boom. We’ve been in the business for 25 years and it was the first time that this happened,” said Aldeguer in a hastily assembled press conference Friday night.
CONFESSION
It was around 9 p.m. last Friday when the “fake” Genaro Garcia was asked to go to the where boxing writers were billeted. It was the media people from Cebu who raised to the ALA Promotions the possibility that the Genaro Garcia who flew in was not the real one after noticing that the one who arrived in Bohol looked different from the Genaro Garcia found in the card’s promotional banners.
Veteran referee Bruce McTavish was also asked to identify the “real” Genaro Garcia. McTavish was the referee when the “real” Garcia fought Nishioka in Japan in 2009.
McTavish shook his head the moment he saw Genaro Garcia, indicating that it was not the fighter that Bautista was supposed to face.
The Genaro Garcia in Bohol said he didn’t know McTavish. The American trainer said he and the “real” Genaro Garcia knew each other. Garcia, however, maintained he traveled to Bohol in good faith.
Mike Lopez, a Cebu City-based Mexican-American who served as Garcia’s cornerman, said the Mexican boxer had no intention of concealing his identity.
“I brought with me records that I got from boxrec.com when I picked him up in Cebu last Tuesday night. What was printed there was Genaro Garcia’s nickname which is Poblanito. But when I asked him, he said he was not Poblanito. I asked him if he was from Chihuahua, Mexico, his answer was no. He said he is from Mexico City,” said Lopez.
Lopez said Garcia was happy when he learned that he was offered to fight Bautista. He secured the needed papers from the Mexico Boxing Commission and traveled to the Philippines alone.
Lopez said Garcia even complained that the photo which appeared in promotional banners as Bautista’s opponent was not him.
Suspicion that it was not the “real” Genaro Garcia grew when during last Thursday’s press conference, Garcia claimed that the toughest fight he ever had was against Hector Velasquez.
A check at boxrec.com yielded no result of the fight between Velasquez and the Genaro Garcia who fought eight world champions. In boxrec.com, there are four boxers named Genaro Garcia but only two are active.
The Genaro Garcia that Bautista was supposed to meet has 38 wins (22KOs) and eight losses. The other Genaro Garcia has 10 wins (6KOs) and 11 losses.
The Genaro Garcia who arrived in Bohol initially said last Friday night that he has 28 wins (10 KOs), eight losses and one draw.
ALA Promotions called for another press con early morning yesterday where Antonio Aldeguer showed an e-mail he sent to a Mexican friend where he sought help to check the identity of the Genaro Garcia who arrived in Bohol.
FORCED TO LIE
In his reply, Edmundo Gaytan revealed that the Genaro Garcia in Bohol only has 10 wins and 11 losses. Under the questioning of the ALA Gym founder, Genaro Garcia finally came clean and confessed that his true record was the one sent by Gaytan.
“I was forced to lie because I was scared,” said Garcia. The boxer said no one instructed him to lie about his record nor pretend that he is Poblanito.
Despite the shocking development, ALA Promotions decided to push through with the fight.
“The Genaro Garcia who went here is a licensed boxer. The Mexican Commission sent papers that he is fit to fight,” said the elder Aldeguer. “I am taking the blame for this. I was the one who communicated with our Mexican contact because I am the only one in the group who can speak Spanish.”
Michael said they will run after matchmaker Victor Hugo Correa for the mix-up. He said the ALA Promotions has been working with the Mexican Correa for at least three years.
“We have to find out if the matchmaker purposely sent the wrong boxer. This is a high-profile fight. We don’t want to be in this situation,” said Michael.
Michael said they are considering taking legal action against Correa as they believed that there was an intent to dupe them so the matchmaker could milk more money.
Michael said they paid at least $10,000 to the Genaro Garcia that they wanted to face Bautista.
“We paid the purse for a top caliber boxer like Genaro Garcia. But the Genaro Garcia who arrived is not the one that we wanted to face Boom-Boom. We really feel bad because we don’t want to give the wrong impression to the public,” said Michael.
SIX-FIGURE LOSS
In a second press conference called in a span of five hours yesterday, Michael announced that the ALA Promotions decided to have the event free to the public and those who have bought tickets will be refunded.
“The integrity of the company is our primary concern. Fans bought tickets to watch the real Genaro Garcia but he is not the one fighting,” said Michael. “This will be a big, six-figure financial blow for the company but this is the right thing to do,” he added.
Michael said he is confident that the incident would not affect the firm’s future boxing promotions but steps have to be taken to avoid similar incident from happening again.
“We have to be more meticulous next time in checking boxers with similar names. The things that we are doing now are the same things that we’ve been doing in our 25 years in the business so we didn’t expect that this thing would happen. The important thing is we faced what the problem was,” said Michael.