Aye, it's the best of it's kind. Garza never really recovered after this either, although the holes in his game were already apparent. He was a sick puncher though, and Meza was one hard so-and-so.
It was at the time, though in retrospect, Garza had displayed a penchant for getting caught early (dropped in the first round of his fight with Bobby Berna when he won the title), and Meza was a durable, double tough guy who had a pretty solid punch of his own, so it probably wasn't as big of a shock at it seemed to be at the time. Still, this might just be a case of one round taking everything out of both fighters. Garza wasn't the same fighter that he appeared to be after Meza, and Meza was only able to make one defense (albeit a pretty impressive one against a suddenly shopworn Mike Ayala) before he lost to the seemingly shot Lupe Pintor in a fight that was considered just as big an upset as this one.
I remember this fight clearly they were both Local guys(LA) I met Garza a couple times when I was a teenager at the Gym. Garza was really hyped and could punch people were comparing him to Danny Lopez (but more fluid),since they both could bang and both were under Benny Georgino. This fight got round of the year in Ring Magazine. I saw Garza fight after this and he didnt look the same he lost speed and didnt seemed to have lost that snap in his shots. He was more the journeyman gatekeeper type after. He had an awesome knockout record. I remember him beating another hot prospect from New York Carmelo Negron who was also a big puncher .
The thing that i remember most about this fight is when Gil Clancy puts his foot in his mouth about how Garza's punches are shorter and is gonna beat Meza to the bang and he is knocked out as he speaks lol
Skills Issues aside, based purely on Punching Power, i still tend to think that Garza should have been included in the Rings 100 best Punchers rankings of a few years ago, his defence may have been swiss cheese, but the guy could certainly whack ! and certainly as good as some that were mentioned at the lower end.
