Inland Empire’s Teenage Phenoms Ryan Garcia and Joseph Landeros

A quantum leap took place when Ryan “Kingry” Garcia (pictured) captured the junior NABF super featherweight title last month.

Forget about the 30 second knockout. Garcia remains a teenager yet leaped over a number of prospects in the Golden Boy Promotions stable in less than a year.

Garcia (11-0, 10 KOs) will be featured in the co-main event on Nov.2, a Thursday night ESPN show against Cesar Valenzuela (14-5-1). It’s a significant match that pits the ultra-confident Garcia against a known gate-keeper.

On Wednesday the tall and lean Garcia was introduced at Casino Del Sol to the Tucson, Arizona fans and media. It may be the longest span of time he spends there. Most of his fights end rather quickly.

Raised in the high desert area of Victorville, Calif. he and his family have been involved in boxing for a number of years: from brother to father and even mother have participated in the amateur boxing program in the Inland Empire.

At the age of 17 it was decided to enter the professional ranks. California does not allow minors to fight professionally so Garcia headed to Mexico where he obliterated four consecutive opponents. One escaped a knockout but was delivered to the floor more than once.

Once Garcia turned 18 years old he was unleashed on California and immediately continued sweeping aside the opposition like one of those early morning street sweepers.

Last year, August 17, the Victorville super featherweight made his U.S. professional debut at the Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. The night club on Spring Street was turned into a boxing club and a large number of young boxers appeared on the fight card that summer night.

Opposing Garcia that evening was a tall Puerto Rican kid with the same measure of confidence. Both were equal in size and equal in weight but the speed factor was the stark difference. After a couple of knockdowns the fight was stopped and Garcia’s hand was raised. He was 18.

Since that August night Garcia has ripped off six consecutive wins, all by knockouts of different variety. Some were delivered with a single blow and others with a blur of punches that bewildered the opposition and those watching.

He’s proof that every so often a youngster slips through the cracks and goes unnoticed by the major boxing promoters. Still a teen Garcia will be co-headlining a fight card and looks to be headlining solo very soon.

But he’s not the only teenager from the Inland Empire scorching opponents.

Joseph Landeros

Another boxer even younger has emerged from the city of Riverside. A high school student named Joseph Landeros has been fighting professionally in Mexico for a year and he too is a teen.

Landeros is only 16 years old and first laced up as a pro at age 15. The student at Martin Luther King High began last year on September 2016 and has racked up 11 consecutive wins and 11 consecutive knockouts.

Last week, in Culiacan, Sinaloa, the lanky bantamweight blasted out a 28-year-old veteran of 46 bouts in three rounds. Landeros was the main event on the fight card.

They call him “El Tigre” and he’s forcefully made a name for himself across the border with an aggressiveness that befits his nickname. Outside of the boxing ring Landeros has the demeanor and manners of a choir boy. It must be a shock for opponents to meet this congenial fellow outside of the ring and once the bell rings a monster unravels out of the mist.

So far no foe has lasted beyond the third round.

Unsatisfied with the amateur scoring system Landeros set out to fight professionally though unable to do so in California.

Both he and his trainer Mario Perez after some thought decided to try the pro ranks. It was a tremendous gamble.

Thompson Boxing

 Isaac Zarate (13-3-2) a tough no-nonsense featherweight out of San Pedro faces Christian Esquivel (30-12) in the main event on Friday Oct. 20, at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, Calif. It can be seen live on Facebook.com/ThompsonBoxingPromotions.

It’s a Thompson Boxing Promotions card and that means quality.

No other promotion company its size can boast of producing and developing more world champions.

Zarate recently defeated former bantamweight world title challenger Carlos Carlson this past July. It was somewhat of an upset.

Tijuana’s Carlson had just fought for the WBC bantamweight world title against Shinsuke Yamanaka in Japan and lost. Then he fought Zarate at the Doubletree and lost again.

The win by Zarate puts him in a good position toward contention or competing against top opposition. He’s trained by Eddie Gonzalez who also trains current WBA super bantamweight champion Danny Roman.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for more information call (714) 935-0900.

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