Elijah Garcia, under new trainer Bob Santos, looks to bounce back from defeat

Trainer Bob Santos has plans of transforming middleweight Elijah Garcia’s career after taking over as his new technical head coach.

Santos will lead Garcia into the ring for the first time against Terrell Gausha on February 15, with the site still to be announced. The trainer believes his years of experience will help bring Garcia’s career back on track.

“I feel confident we should win that fight,” Santos told BoxingScene. “We’re happy about the fight and we’re preparing very well. Gausha is a tough opponent and he fought Erislandy Lara. He’s fought [Tim] Tszyu, he’s fought [Carlos] Adames so he’s been in there with everybody, and he’s an electric.”

Garcia of Glendale, Arizona, is coming off his first career defeat to Kyrone Davis last June, suffering a 10-round split decision loss. The 21-year-old southpaw decided to team up with Santos in a bid to improve on his technical abilities.

“Elijah Garcia lost his last fight to Kyrone Davis … but now he’s with me. He’s with a different coach. He was only 20 years old when he lost to him, and he’s already fought at a tough level.

“Now he’s 21 years old, and he’s with me. We’re expecting big things from him, and we’re expecting him to be a world champion. With the Kyrone Davis fight, he fought over the middleweight weight class. Like I said, youth and inexperience caused [the loss]. He missed weight and things didn’t go too well in the camp, and that’s why he’s with me.”

A win over Gausha, 24-4-1 (12 KOs), could put Garcia, 16-1 (13 KOs), back into title contention. The renowned trainer said Garcia would be ready to take on the winner of Carlos Adames versus Hamzah Sheeraz – who are slugging it out for the WBC middleweight championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 22.

“We’re looking for the winner of Carlos Adames and Hamzah Sheeraz on February 22. That’s what we want next after this fight (against Gausha).

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].