Cain Velasquez is already the UFC heavyweight champion but could the American Kickboxing Academy product become a champion in professional boxing? One man seems to think so.
Speaking with Sherdog, Robert Garcia handed out quite a bit of praise Velasquez’s way (emphasis mine):
There’s a local [MMA] gym here in Oxnard, and I have had some of the guys come in and do stand up with us. One of the guys that came in for a few days that was training with me that we were really excited to have was Cain Velasquez. He was here for three days and worked with me and everything.
I think this guy is not only great at what he does, but he could also be a great boxer because he’s got tremendous power. When I hold the mitts with Cain Velasquez, right away I told his people that brought him, I said, ‘What do you guys think about training for boxing because this guy could make a lot of noise in professional boxing?’ He’s got skills and tremendous power. He’s got good boxing skills.
I think a good trainer could teach him how to fight, build up a good record in two or three years and become a champion. I honestly believe so.
Garcia has trained Antonio Margarito, Kelly Pavlik, Fernando Vargas and Brandon Rios among others, so the man knows what it takes to “make some noise” in the boxing world.
Velasquez is a former two-time Division I All-American wrestler from Arizona State University and owns two Pac-10 conference championships as well. With his wrestling abilities combined and a seemingly limitless gas tank, Cain has risen to become the best heavyweight in MMA right now.
What’s interesting is that Garcia notes Velasquez’s punching power, something other fighters have made a point to discredit.
Pro boxer Tyson Fury obviously doesn’t think Velasquez would present any challenge as he challenged him to a fight and called him a “small stif idiot” on Twitter, per the Mirror.
Velasquez will have a busy second half of 2014 after recovering from shoulder surgery as he will be one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America along with Fabricio Werdum. The two men will face one another in November.
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