By David Finger

It’s been a long, hard road but for 43-year-old junior middleweight contender Roberto “La Amenaza” Garcia, he is just days away from finally capturing that elusive prize that he has been chasing since turning pro back in January of 2001: a world title. Garcia (47-5, 29 KOs) moves down to the super welterweight division to take on 25-year-old prospect Kevin Salgado Zambrano (15-2-1, 10 KOs) from San Antonio in a bout for the vacant IBA 154-pound title on Saturday in Mercedes, Texas in a Marenes Promotions televised PPV card at the Llano Grande Event Center.

For Garcia, who hails from Weslaco and has fought numerous times in Mercedes, there is the obvious desire to win a world title in front of his local fans. But there is also the recognition that at his age he is running out of opportunities to capture gold. Turning pro back in January of 2001, the then 20-year-old Garcia exploded onto the scene and it wasn’t long before boxing fans in Texas were envisioning a world title for the popular banger. But in a cruel twist of fate, “La Amenaza” always was one step away from the belt. His most memorable run came in 2005-2007, when he captured a USA Texas State belt in early 2005 and followed it with the WBC CABOFE Welterweight title later that year. The following year he would defeat the WBC #10 ranked Juan Carlos Rubio for the IBA Americas Welterweight belt and it was looking like a safe bet that he would have a world title before the end of the year. But when his first world title fight materialized in November of 2007, fate would deal a cruel blow to Garcia. Taking on the slick-boxing prospect Freddy Hernandez, Garcia quickly established control and dropped Hernandez in round two. But an accidental clash of heads the following round caused the fight to be declared a no-contest. Although Garcia continued to fight some of the sport’s most recognizable fighters in the coming years, and even though he captured the WBC Silver Middleweight belt in 2017, there was no question that for “La Amenaza” and boxing fans in South Texas that the Hernandez fight was a tough pill to swallow. The world title was tantalizingly close…it was almost his. But he still had to walk out of the ring in Brownsville without it. The IBA belt eluded him.

Until now.

Garcia will get his second crack at an IBA world title, and in many ways his fight with Salgado Zambrano mirrors that fateful clash with Hernandez back in 2007. He is fighting in front of his hometown fans against a slick young prospect who possesses his own dreams of championship gold. For Salgado Zambrano, there is also the recognition that he needs the win to continue his career as a contender, perhaps even more than Garcia does. Although only 25, Zambrano has come up short in the two fights where he stepped up in class: he lost a decision to undefeated contender Joseph Spencer in September of last year and then lost another decision earlier this year when he took on undefeated Elijah Garcia. The Garcia fight was for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental Middleweight belt and the WBC Latino Middleweight title. A third loss for the IBA belt may end Zambrano’s run at contention, something that he is keenly aware of. Needless to say, this world title fight is a must win for both men, which bodes well for fight fans watching on PPV and at ringside.

Rounding off the undercard will be an additional eleven action packed fights. In an intriguing heavyweight fight, hard punching Raphael Murphy (16-1, 13 KOs) from Harlingen, Texas looks to avenge his only professional loss as he steps into the ring against Hugo Trujillo (5-3-1, 2 KOs). Trujillo defeated Murphy by way of 5th round TKO back in 2017 but neither fighter has been particularly active since then. Nonetheless, Trujillo still has some impressive performances since the upset over Murphy (including a win over a 34-1 Eugene Hill back in 2019) so it is safe to say that his win over Murphy was not a fluke. He is a deceptively tough fighter who can give many heavyweights problems, and Murphy will need to bring his “A-game” to avenge that loss. In a last minute addition to the card, hard-punching prospect Joe Eli Hernandez (12-2, 10 KOs) will step into the ring for the first time since his loss to fellow prospect Reshat Mati in Madison Square Garden last year. He takes on a familiar face in Isai Monreal Mireles (3-15, 1 KO) from Matamoros, Mexico. Mireles has been stopped nine times and has not fought since 2019 (when Hernandez knocked him out in two rounds) so the fight is widely seen as a tune up for Hernandez.

Rounding off the undercard will be a six round junior welterweight fight featuring Nelson Hampton (10-6, 6 KOs) as he takes on veteran Roberto Almazan Monreal (10-20, 4 KOs). Undefeated bantamweight Jose Tamez (2-0, 0 KOs) takes on Julian Yanez (2-4-1, 1 KO) in a four round affair. Another undefeated Texas prospect, Jimmy Delgadillo (2-0, 1 KO) takes on the durable journeyman Hector Gutierrez (2-17-1, 0 KOs) in a four round super bantamweight fight. Rookie Jose Sauceda makes his professional debut against winless Linus Lambert (0-3) in a four round junior lightweight scrap. Another rookie, Jose Marines, will make his professional debut against debuting Moises Briones. In another clash of debuting boxers, Brian Rodriguez takes on Victor Adrian Pinon in a four round fight. Ruben Urquiza (1-0, 1 KO) takes on Jaime Ortiz Garcia (0-1) of Mexico in a four round super welterweight clash. And Super lightweight Marcelo Reyes brings his 2-0 record to Mercedes, Texas against Austin’s Luis Fernandez (1-6-1, 0 KOs).

Tickets are selling fast, but some are still available and can be obtained by calling Joey Marines at 1-956-463-3134. Tickets start at $25 and go up to $80 for ringside. A sell out is expected, however, those fight fans who are unable to attend in person can watch the event on PPV for $24.99 at www.theaathleteinmetv.com.