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Chris Cozzone: Sport takes a bullet as young life cut short

By Chris Cozzone
Friday, October 13, 2006

Boxer found shot to death

A 20-year-old Albuquerque boxer was found dead of gunshot wounds to the head, and his trainer described the death as "a gangland slaying."

Vicente "El Picosito" Garcia was found shot to death in a car Thursday, police said.

Officers received a call about shots fired about 2 a.m., and found the man dead when they arrived, said police spokeswoman Trish Hoffman.

"It was a gangland slaying. Only his side (the passenger's side) of the car was shot up," said Garcia's trainer, Robert Padilla.

Garcia had been shot three times in the head, Padilla said.

Hoffman would not confirm his information.

Padilla said Garcia had been threatened recently.

Garcia had a 13-5 record with nine knockouts as a boxer. He won a bronze medal for the United States at 113 pounds at the International Junior Olympics.

Posted Wednesday night at 8:41 p.m. on the newmexicoboxing.com bulletin board:

Good luck Shawn. Hope to see that belt in your position when you come back. Bring it by the gym so all the amateurs see it.

From Robert and Picosito, Team Nuevo Mexico

Five hours later, one-half of Team Nuevo Mexico - Albuquerque welterweight Vicente Garcia Picosito, as he is known to his fans and friends - was found dead in the passenger seat of an abandoned Cadillac still running on idle. The boxer's 20-year-old body was riddled with bullets.

Today the other half of Team Nuevo Mexico, Robert Padilla, both trainer and grandfather (though Vicente called him "Dad"), grieves deeply.

As does the entire boxing community.

The posting said it all.

Despite the criticism Shawn Gallegos received for taking a week's-notice fight against former two-time world champion Randall Bailey (they fight tonight in Hollywood, Fla.), Garcia did not fail to offer up a word of encouragement.

That's what kind of person Vicente Garcia was.

Garcia was a team player in an individual and egocentric sport.

Attend any amateur boxing match, any pro weigh-in or press conference, whether he was fighting, and you'd find Garcia (and Padilla) in the crowd, shouting out encouragement, cheering on the home team.

He was there when Johnny Tapia fought Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas, Nev. Garcia had "Tapia" shaved into his hair. When he landed a TV fight, you'd see "505" or a Zia symbol carved into his Õdo.

And if you wanted support on the often-hate-fueled boxing bulletin board, it came from Vicente.

Bring back that belt . . .

Come back a winner . . .

He was a much-needed good sport.

And one heck of a fighter.

Most of the time, you couldn't say a bad thing about him. He took on all takers, and he fought his heart out. He took risks - his 13-5 (9 KOs) record shows it, be it against tougher opposition, an on-the-road fight or by going pro at the tender age of 17 following a star amateur career.

When he was criticized, the kid took it like a man, shook his head or shrugged, laughed and joked. Then he always came back a stronger fighter.

Last summer, when he lost a fight on a fluke injury sustained in the ring, he showed the devastation he felt by pounding the canvas. Then he shook it off and, with tears still streaming down his face, shouted to the crowd, "I'll be back! I'll be back!"

This time, he will not be back.

Gunned down in the hometown he never failed to mention in an interview, Garcia's life and promising career have been tragically cut short.

Garcia lived, breathed and loved the sport of boxing. You'd rarely find him out of the gym.

He also showed an equal zest for life. Rarely was he in a solemn mood, not joking or laughing with someone.

Garcia's would-be promoter, Top Rank, will hold a moment of silence at tonight's Telefutura card. They'd hoped to sign Garcia, and had a crosstown fight in the works between him and Ray Sanchez III. If Garcia scored the upset, as the majority of local fight fans figured he would, a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. might have been his - along with a contract.

He was a local fighter with heart, willing to fight anyone.

But fists and passion can't stop bullets.

Representing your city and fighting your heart out did not matter to the killers who, while shooting down a 20-year-old kid with a lust for life, were doubling as a firing squad for a sport that is already struggling to hang on in New Mexico.

But a death, or a critical wound to a sport he loved, is not what Vicente would have wanted.

"Keep fighting!" he would've said. "Pick yourselves up and keep throwing punches!"

Was Vicente Garcia a future world champion?

Maybe. Maybe not.

He was learning. He was improving. The potential was there. Whether it would've happened is academic.

The belt, the medals he earned as a top amateur, and, certainly, the paper qualifications that label one a "champion" - issued from today's murky alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies; none of that really applies here.

Vicente "Picosito" Garcia had the heart of a champion.

Cozzone owns and operates newmexicoboxing.com. You can reach him at chris@cozzone.com