SAN ANTONIO — Ryan Garcia wasn't even close to being thought of by his parents, Henry and Lisa, when Joe Goossen started training in 1969. Garcia wasn't born for another 29 years.
By that point in 1998, Goossen had already cemented himself as a world-class trainer and known as one of the best head charges in the history of boxing. He's trained Shane Mosley, Amir Khan, Michael Nunn, Riddick Bowe, Lionel Butler, Diego Corrales, and the Ruelas brothers. But, at 68 years of age, Goossen is selective about who he trains. So if you want to work with him, you have to come to his Ten Goose Boxing Gym in Van Nuys, Calif., which is a region of Los Angeles. But Goossen was about to make an exception to his rule.
In February, Garcia announced he would no longer be training with 2021 Trainer of the Year Eddy Reynoso. Right away, Garcia knew he wanted to learn alongside Goossen as they had worked together he was 17, and they were still friends as they would talk regularly about his fights. There was just the matter of Goossen coming to San Diego. He had no reason to make the nearly three-hour drive and leave his gym and family. To Goossen it was a no-brainer. He accepted the offer from Garcia, packed his bags, and made the excursion to San Diego. Goossen makes it clear the odds of him doing it for someone other than Garcia would have been extremely slim.
"Highly unlikely. Probably not," Goossen admitted to DAZN while we were with Garcia on Wednesday. "Number one, I already knew what I was getting into with Ryan because I knew Ryan personally. I knew his mom and dad. It's like I told Ryan, I can't believe seven years has gone by since we first had our little first foray. So I knew Ryan. Ryan and I have stayed in touch over the years."
"Not like I just picked up the phone one day and said, 'Hey, nice to talk to you after seven years'. It was more like, I just talked to you after my last fight," Garcia immediately chimed in to DAZN. "I literally talked to him after every one of my fights because there's just a certain feel to it.
Goossen continued, "I speak his language. I'm gonna be honest with him and tell him what I thought about certain things. Would I have left my house, my home, my hearth, and home now? You're right. I probably would not have no. I can't think of another person I would have done it for. Absolutely not. But it was the right decision that I made. It's been seven weeks that we've been together. It went by like it was three weeks. Most camps, three weeks feel like seven weeks. Of course, his Mom and Dad took care of me really well. Put me in a great spot. We were in a great place. Great gym. Everything worked out."
"I can't think of a better camp going better than this one," Garcia chimed in again.
Under Reynoso, Garcia went 5-0, with all five wins coming by knockout. People have wondered why Garcia would leave the man who has helped guide Canelo Alvarez to become the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport. Garcia has felt Reynoso didn't give him the proper attention he needed and wanted someone who is all in, 100 percent on him. Enter the Hall of Fame trainer.
"I had a great time at camp, honestly. This is just the best balance of camp I've ever had," Garcia admits. "Not only was the training good (and) hard, it was just a good time—everything we did. Go eat, great time. Train, good time. But the one thing I like about Joe is, he's like me. Once we're locked in, it's nothing else. We're all in. We go balls deep. We continue to do it. It's not like one day. It's every single day. We're in it all the way as much as we can. We live every ounce, and that's why I love training for a guy that's going to do what I do, because I almost let it overcome me, overtake me. I just dissolve into what I'm doing, and he does the same thing.
"That makes me want to go harder because now I have somebody right on the side of me ready to f—ing go in at any time, anywhere. We're f—ing on it. That's something I really appreciate. Joe, if I need a run, if I say 'let's go run at 11:30 (p.m.)', I know he's up. He's there. If it's pouring rain, I was running. He was there. You know me. I'm running in a flood. I'm doing high knees. I'm like, 'Oh s—. Alright, well, we got to keep going. Got to get the run-in,' he was right there. So there's just moments like that, that you say to yourself like, 'Oh s—, I got a guy like me right next to me.' That's even better."