Last month, The Ring Magazine named Robert Garcia as 2024’s Trainer of the Year, an accolade he previously achieved back in 2011 and 2012. While much of that recognition comes from the success Garcia experienced with world champions Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela and Virgil Ortiz over the last calendar year, ardent followers of the sport know there is nary a major event that takes place, in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or San Antonio especially, that does feature at least one of his champions, contenders or up-and-coming prospects. One such promising young southpaw that already has the Alamo City excited just four fights into his pro career would be Ethan Perez, a 20-year-old featherweight who goes for win number five in his hometown at the Boeing Center at Tech Port this coming Saturday night.
Perez (4-0, 2 KOs) originally found the sport of boxing, following his older brother Anthony into the Alamo City Boxing Club, at just six-years-old and quickly found he had an aptitude for the sweet science. Five years later, with the full support of his parents, Perez was already qualifying and traveling for national tournaments.
“By like ten or eleven, we started going more towards the national tournaments and out of state for tournaments,” recalls Perez. “Whatever [my parents] felt like they needed to do, they would do, and a lot of times it is not cheap. We would do plate sales or waters, things like that to raise up the money. My parents have always been a big help.”
Alvino Valles of Texas Boxers & Brawlers, co-promoter of Saturday’s event, has known Ethan and the Perez family since those early years.
“I’ve known Ethan since he was about ten, eleven years old,” recalls Valles. Ethan, Dan Cortez and my grandson used to all work out together at the RGBA [Robert Garcia Boxing Academy] on Bandera Road. As a matter of fact, Ethan beat up my grandson, who is the same age, when they were young. After Ethan was done with him, my grandson said, ‘This isn’t for me.’ Ethan’s dad has been by his side since day one. They are good people, him and his wife. They’ve done very well with him. He is a well-mannered young man.”
Ethan’s father Raymond not only was a financial and emotional support during his son’s journey, he also took up as his primary trainer from near the end of his amateur run until the beginnings of his pro career.
“From 16 up to 18, my dad was coaching me on his own,” recalls Ethan. “Anytime before that, we would try different coaches here and there. I was training with Mario Barrios’ dad for a year or two. I was trained by Bam’s dad for a good year-and-a-half to two years. It was kind of coach-to-coach, but my dad was my main coach for my first and second pro fights, as well as Daniel Cortez’s dad. His dad was a help too.”
Daniel Cortez is another exciting young fighter out of the same camp, who grew up alongside Perez in San Antonio rings. The two share a close bond, having charted the same path simultaneously in what can be a lonely sport at times.
“Me and Danny grew up together and we have always been kind of close in weight,” says Perez. “We’ve always been really helpful when it comes to having to spar with each other or working on things with each other. That we are doing it together still, in the pros, is really helpful.”
Despite his numerical youth and accomplished amateur credentials, Perez opted to turn professional at an early age in the fall of 2023. It was a decision Perez would make together with his father, ultimately leading to his pro debut that September in his hometown of San Antonio.
“It was a decision that I made right out of high school,” recalls Perez. “I told my dad, ‘Look, I’m ready to get my career started.’ I just feel like the amateurs are just an up and downward spiral. Betweens wins and losses in tournaments. I just felt like I was ready to go pro and take that next step in my career and see how this goes.”
Perez prepared for his pro debut with his father as his head trainer. In preparing his son for that first big step into the pros, Raymond upped the intensity and attention to detail, leaving nothing to chance.
“The lead-up was difficult, I am not going to lie,” explains Ethan. “My dad was my coach for that fight. I was living with him, so it was every day. He was watching everything that I would eat, watching how much I weighed everyday. Pushing me through two to three workouts everyday. He pushed me pretty hard for that first fight.
When we were younger, he explained to me how I needed to tell the difference between him being my coach and him being my father. He said, ‘When we are in the gym and when it is about boxing, you have to realize I am your coach, I am not your father. And also, anytime we are at home or we are outside of boxing, I am your father.’ He didn’t want to mesh the two because it would stir something else up if we started bumping heads. That is something I had to learn growing up, when he’s my coach and not-so-much my father.”
In his pro debut, Perez scored a shutout, four-round unanimous decision before a raucous crowd at the outdoor Smoke Sky Bar.
“The whole experience was something different that I had experienced in amateurs,” explains Perez. “In the amateurs, you’re always traveling so much that you don’t have that supportive fanbase there, because you are in different states. But in San Antonio, I had family and friends and a bunch of people that came out and supported. It was a different experience than I had ever felt. It was amazing.”
In his second pro bout, two months later back at the Smoke Sky Bar, Perez would score his first professional stoppage at just :31 seconds of the first round, which ignited the crowd into a frenzy.
“I had never experienced that before, especially hearing the crowd,” explains Perez. “Whenever the ref stepped-in, I backed up and I didn’t really process that the fight was already over. I looked at the opponent, like waiting to see what was next, and then the ref was waving it off and finally it clicked. It was crazy and very exciting.”
The camp for his second pro bout, which included some time working with Daniel Cortez Sr. when Raymond was tied up with work, would be Ethan Perez’s last in San Antonio before making the move to work with Robert Garcia, who had also been the co-promoter of those first two fights.
“Robert had reached out after the first pro fight and said he wanted me to go out there and start training with him and that was obviously an honor,” recalls Perez. “But I felt that we needed to spend a little more time to get ready, my dad and I, and put in a little more work to mentally prepare me and physically prepare me for Robert’s camp. So that is why we did one more fight back at home, so then going into that third fight, we had three or four months to mentally prepare myself for whatever was to come at RGBA. That’s how I ended up here.”
Their first camp together was to prepare for a fight last March that ultimately fell apart when the scheduled opponent pulled out late. When his next opportunity rolled around last June, Perez’ opponent again put the fight in jeopardy when he came in heavy. However, with two camps with Garcia under his belt, Perez was not going to let a few extra pounds get in the way of notching his third pro victory.
“They told me that the guy was struggling to make weight, so could I come up a little bit,” recalls Perez. “So from there I started drinking water and gatorade that morning. Then I weighed-in at 128 and he showed up at 132 ¼. I didn’t know he was going to come in so heavy. My dad and I talked about it, and we felt like we could still handle business, regardless of the four pounds over he was. We still felt like we were coming in strong and ready.”
Strong and ready Perez was, as he punished his heavy opponent before scoring a third-round stoppage (which BoxRec incorrectly lists as a first-round kayo) with a vicious body attack.
“I was boxing good the whole time, landing solid shots,” remembers Perez. “We had worked on sitting down on punches as opposed to the first fight when I was just trying to throw as much as I could. For the third fight, we were working on sitting down on punches, landing clean shots and showing skills. I feel like it really showed in that fight. I dropped him twice and by the second one, the fight was already over.”
Since moving over to work with Garcia, both Perez and his good friend Cortez have shown great improvement as they have passed every test put in front of them.
“They are progressing at a good rate, fight-by-fight, the way that they are supposed to be progressing,” explains Valles, who has co-promoted every one of Perez’s professional bouts. “You can see it, fight-by-fight, every time out they are bringing something new to the ring. You can tell they are learning and getting better. This is going to be Ethan’s last four-rounder [on Saturday.] After this he will be moving up to six-rounds.”
This Saturday, Perez will be taking a step-up in class when he takes on Steve Garagarza (4-8-1, 2 KOs) of Laredo, Texas. Garagarza has stretched some fighters and sprung an upset on a previously unbeaten fighter before, while also having more wins than Perez’s previous opponents combined.
“Steve is a strong guy and these are the types of fights Ethan is going to have to take as he moves forward,” explains Valles. “Steve is very durable, very strong. Steve is coming off of a good outing and he knocked off an undefeated guy that was 2-0 prior, so these are good fights for Ethan.”
Regardless of the opponent, Perez is ready to showcase what he has been working on in the lab with the Trainer of the Year.
“I don’t know much about him, honestly,” says Perez of Garagarza. “I’m just coming into this fight always trying to work to be better. With this guy, he has more wins than the other opponents I’ve fought against, so I’m going to make sure that I am on my A-game. Just expect to see action. I plan to put on a good show.”
Tickets for the event, promoted by Texas Boxers & Brawlers and Robert Garcia’s House of Champions and broadcast by ProBox TV, are available online at boeingcentertechport.com
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]
