Super Bantamweight champ Jaime Garza went 40-0 38 KO's then he went 8-6 in his next 14 fights before calling it quits. In his 41st fight he defended against contender Juan Meza and got destroyed in one round. After that his losses (mostly KO's) were to journeymen, bums and never-wases except for Marcos Villasana who stopped him in 5 rounds. What's the story behind the guy, undefeated in 40 fights..... then a .500 ever after? :huh
The guy was too obsessed with becoming the next Danny Lopez from what I've read. When you watch his fights its almost comical the way he throws himself off balance and out of position when he misses one of his haymakers. Can't really explain his slup after losing to Meza. Probably just waning commitment.
I must say i was surprised he did not get any kind of mention in the rings 100 greatest KO artists, special issue of some time back, as the focus was supposed to be on power alone and not technical skills in delivery, Prior to his loss to Meza a few experts rated him a harder hitter , single shot, than his predessor Wilfredo Gomez, the swiss cheese defence and career fade out seems to have obscured any merit as an exciting 'Dont Blink" fan friendly fighter, he rarely gets a mention these days, maybe if he had been born 10 - 15 years later...???
His first 23 wins came against people with less than 10 wins -- his 17th fight was a knockout of a 2-5 guy. Carlos Medoza is the only name of note on his pre-title resume, and he had already been whacked out by Gomez and Meza (also in the 10th in both cases). One of the top 100 punchers of all time? Based on what? He knocked out mostly set-up victims, won a vacant title, defended it one time against someone nobody had ever heard of (who started his career 18-0 and retired 25-8 with a string of knockout losses starting with Garza). I'd dare say all 100 of those rated have knockout wins over meaningful opponents so we can measure their power against known quantities.
Jaime, looked like he was going to be a 'super bomber'. But, he did get rocked, floored and almost 'popped out' by 'light-hitting' Bobby Berna in the 1st-Round in his Super-Banatamweight Championship bout in June 1983, before coming back to nail 'Bobby' in the 2nd Round. Jaime, was 'too wild' and left himself 'wide-open' in every fight. Don King was expecting Jaime Garza to become the 'next' Wilfredo Gomez.
