Rafael García, Author at The Fight CityThe Fight City

Rafael García

Browsing All Posts By Rafael García

Boxiana 7
Feb. 24, 1989: Duran vs Barkley

Iran “The Blade” Barkley vs Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran represents a very special page in the history book of boxing. This intense and historic battle is nothing ...
On February 24, 2021 / By Rafael García
The Top Twelve 4
Top 12 Greatest All-Mexican Fights

The expectations were high this past Saturday when Miguel Berchelt and Oscar Valdez answered the bell in Las Vegas and with good reason. Few countries can match Mexico ...
On February 22, 2021 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 2
The Boxing Kings

It’s a most intriguing irony that prizefighting–a brutal and exploitative enterprise baptized as “the red light district of sports” by the late Jimmy Cannon–is the most romanticized of ...
On February 13, 2021 / By Rafael García
Features 2
No More Lights

With boxing still profoundly affected by the ongoing pandemic, we will continue to periodically revisit some of our past feature articles. Today, we look back to when our ...
On January 31, 2021 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 0
Jan. 29, 2005: Gatti vs Leija

As 2005 started, Arturo Gatti‘s star was once again on the rise. He had previously earned the title of “Blood and Guts Warrior” after enduring thirty rounds of ...
On January 29, 2021 / By Rafael García
The Fight City 0
One Night In Montreal

With boxing still profoundly affected by the ongoing pandemic, we will continue to periodically revisit some of our past feature articles. Today, we look back to when our ...
On January 5, 2021 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 3
Dec. 26, 1908: Burns vs Johnson

The late, great comedian Bill Hicks once quipped that the first Gulf War was not actually a “war.” Instead it was little more than a military exercise for the ...
On December 26, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 0
Pacquiao vs Marquez IV: A History of Violence

Earlier this month boxing marked the eight year anniversary of one of the most consequential prizefights of recent times, the fourth battle between legendary champions Juan Manuel Marquez ...
On December 24, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 0
Prelude To A Trilogy?

The Event On separate cards over the weekend, boxing superstars Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin saw action for the first time in 2020 as they looked to ...
On December 20, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 0
Road To Nowhere?

So much has changed since September of 2018 that we might as well have been living in a different world. Come to think of it, I guess we ...
On December 17, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 1
Ray Mancini: The Good Son

The 1980s remain perhaps the most successful decade in boxing’s history, a rare time when the sport was highly popular and widely accepted as mainstream entertainment. Champions such ...
On December 9, 2020 / By Rafael García
The Top Twelve 4
Top 12 All-Time Greatest Welterweight Fights

No matter how you break it down, Errol Spence vs Danny Garcia has one major thing going for it: it’s one of the best matches that can currently ...
On December 4, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 2
Las Glorias del Gran Puas

“I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.” — George Best The Northern Ireland footballer’s famous quip is less ...
On November 20, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight Reports 0
Mayhem In Mexico

The Event Friday night at TV Azteca’s studios in Mexico City, super flyweight badasses Juan Francisco “Gallito” Estrada and “Chocolatito” Roman Gonzalez sprung back into action in separate ...
On October 24, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 0
Oct. 16, 1970: Olivares vs Castillo

The rivalry between Ruben Olivares and Jesus Castillo—one of the most revered in Mexican boxing lore—took place in an era when the bantamweight division was dominated by Mexicans, with “El Púas” ...
On October 16, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 0
Punching From The Shadows

In labeling Punching from the Shadows a memoir, Glen Sharp might be selling short his autobiographical work. More than a memoir, Sharp presents in his book a thorough ...
On October 2, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 0
Sept. 12, 1992: Chavez vs Camacho (Part Two)

Click here to read part I of the tale of Chavez vs Camacho. With a delirious crowd awaiting the opening bell, JCC walked through a mob from his ...
On September 13, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 0
Sept. 12, 1992: Chavez vs Camacho (Part One)

The ring, like the arena that housed it, was filled to capacity. The final bell had rung and dozens of people climbed through the ropes for the rituals ...
On September 12, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 3
Sun Kil Moon: “Salvador Sanchez”

In Salvador Sanchez, singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek walks amongst men who died much too soon. Such deaths are tragic by definition, but in the case of the men depicted ...
On August 12, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 1
Aug. 6, 1970: Ramos vs Ramos

What became known as “The Night of the Ramos” happened fifty years ago today at the legendary Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and for those who witnessed this ...
On August 6, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 3
Plaster of Torrance (Part Two)

Plaster of Torrance: Unwrapping the Meaning of Antonio Margarito, Part Two. Excerpted from The Bittersweet Science. There are times when boxing matches resemble more a bullfight than they ...
On July 30, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 2
Plaster Of Torrance (Part One)

Last week we marked the anniversary of the legendary first battle between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. To pay further tribute to this remarkable fight, we would like ...
On July 29, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 0
Reading The Fights

At first glance, Reading the Fights is a compendium of insightful essays which alternate between examining the responses boxing evokes and bringing to life stories of its past, thus providing ...
On June 14, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 3
May 11, 1900: Jeffries vs Corbett

The first Jeffries vs Corbett clash took place in Coney Island, New York over a century ago but the storylines highlighted by that historic battle are ones we ...
On May 11, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 12
Remembering #MayPac

Five years ago today one of the most eagerly anticipated matches in the long history of professional prizefighting, Mayweather vs Pacquiao, went down in Vegas and our own ...
On May 2, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 2
Off The Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story

I loved it. I loved it. I loved luring a guy into throwing a punch, then landing my own right hand and hurting him and dropping him. I ...
On April 28, 2020 / By Rafael García
Fight City Reviews 3
The Sweet Science

One of the obvious realizations upon re-reading A.J. Liebling’s The Sweet Science is that while much has changed in the sport over the last sixty years, some things ...
On April 12, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 11
April 7, 2001: Hamed vs Barrera

“I’m here training the greatest featherweight of all time.” None other than Emanuel Steward spoke those words, three weeks before Prince Naseem Hamed faced Marco Antonio Barrera in ...
On April 7, 2020 / By Rafael García
Features 5
When Thunder And Lightning Struck

One of my earliest boxing-related memories happened when I was seven. On a warm Saturday night my parents took me to my favorite restaurant, the one that served ...
On March 18, 2020 / By Rafael García
Boxiana 14
March 17, 1990: Chavez vs Taylor I

Few “super fights” fully live up to the expectations aroused when they are initially announced, and even rarer are the ones that surpass them. But only a handful completely ...
On March 17, 2020 / By Rafael García