Raymond Muratalla, the IBF lightweight champion, has paid tribute to gymmate Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and coach Robert Garcia.
Multi-time Trainer of the Year Garcia has helped guide Muratalla to a belt and unbeaten bantamweight champion Rodriguez to lofty placements on the pound-for-pound ratings.
Garcia was a formidable fighter but has had even greater success as a coach.
“Yeah, it’s great to have that corner with me, have that team behind me with that level of experience, so it’s definitely been a huge help in my career,” said Muratalla. “I’m at where I’m at because of my team, so I’m super, super grateful and it’s been great.”
Muratalla was a good amateur and his father knew Garcia and made the introduction.
“We had seen him at a fight and my dad, we were just talking to him and it was very early on in my career and it just started from a conversation. And then we started going to his gym, started working out and sparring there. And from then on, it’s just been nothing but greatness.”
The 29-year-old Muratalla, who fights Cuban Robson Conceicao on August 1 in Las Vegas, also knew, straightaway, that was where he wanted to be.
“Yeah, it was probably the best gym to be at,” he explained. “They had all types of fighters, all types of guys, just training and working out. He has all his champions. So it was definitely a team that I needed to be a part of and it was just a great environment to be around. Just [with] all the motivation, the energy. Everybody’s headed towards the same goal, so it was nice to be around that type of energy.”
Muratalla, 24-0 (17 KOs), is not the only one benefitting from Garcia’s wisdom, but Rodriguez, also 24-0 (17 KOs), is thriving in one of boxing’s best-known gyms.
“He’s an animal, man,” Muratalla said of “Bam.” “He’s a little guy, but he’s a beast. He’s in that gym and he’s putting in work and just to see it and be a part of it has been great, it has been motivating and I just wish nothing but the best for them.”
Asked where Muratalla sat in the gym’s pound-for-pound rankings, he smiled: “I got no clue, man, I’ll let them decide that.”
