European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Marlon Simpkins pauses to reflect on his Usarek title bid. Marlon taking fights personally Story and photo Liy Rob Stac Centorc staff writer Marlon sinpkins is ready. As soon As he Hes to the ring his eyes Lurn to be he clenches his fists Anil takes a slow deep breath. I Here s Only one thing on his mini winning. As the Sari us boxing championship near he in t concentrating on talking his he s More interested in u inning the Light heavyweight title. Simpkins ims his share of fights much larger than the Usatuk championship but his inner drive won t let him look Pas his next goal the title. The us Arius championships Are More than just fights Simpkins says his words echoing throughout a dimly lit locker room at the Sullivan Barracks gym in Mannheim. West Germany where he specialist is assigned to the 512lh Miril co. His teammates rib him about the statement trying to catch him off guard. He shrugs them off but they persist in razing him. Alter spitting insults through the locker room Simpkins promises to Lake care of them the men give a sarcastic shudder. These fights Are a very Persona thing for be he says. I look Al every Light As being just As important As the is look emphasizes the Point. No one in the locker room will touch the last comment. They know when to Lay off. Boxing is a personal thing to me because it is the Only sport where you can lose an Eye gut your Ace broken up or suffer a serious injury. You have to Lake it personally Simpkins says. Simpkins credits 21 is t a com coach . Ross with helping him get on a winning track and boosting his Confidence. He was always Here in if i lust he was always there right behind Ross a seasoned Veteran in International Huxiong circles laughs when referring to Simpkins. I be s just a Tough Guy he says peering up at two of his boxers in the ring at the 21 St i a com training Camp. Ross says Simpkins is just a crazy Guy likes to fight. I guess his greatest asset is if someone hits him in the nose. Ross sentence trails off but his Point is Well understood. Simpkins teammates say is like a caged animal at limes. Others say he can be frightening especially if he s been hit. He has refined his style while travelling and fighting at the All army level. Relying on sheer Power and brawling before he got to All army Simpkins has honed a deadly combination of Power and finesse into a style that wreaks havoc in the ring. Simpkins declines to give away anything about his strategy at Usa eur but does concede he Ain t got any surprises. I m just looking for my second tide. And i won f be a few rounds with Simpkins boxing resume is an adventure in itself but he does t dwell on the past. Ask him about his All army Light heavyweight titles and Simpkins brushes it aside. Question him about his interservice 178-Pound title and Simpkins simply smiles the 22-year-old has been boxing for Only three years. As he Speaks he has ample reason for arrogance but machismo Tarzan Chest beating is nol his style. Instead come words of humility words of conviction words of Confidence. I consider myself to be Lucky so far in my career he says. I just go out and do the Best that i can and fortunately i be come out on the attention he has stirred is Nice he admits but not something he looks for i Don t like a lot of attention lust leave me alone and let me fight. All the attention makes me Adrian Johnson a contender for the 147-Pound title Calls Simpkins an i Admire him for making it to the interservice level Johnson says. It was a hard Road and not everybody makes it up that Road. Just watching him fight makes you want to push harder. Everybody would like to be where he s been on the flip Side Simpkins says everyone is shooting for he knows he has his work Cut out for him in the championships. Every fight i got is a Tough fight. I m not looking past anyone not counting anyone out Simpkins says. As far As i m concerned if you be got enough guts to get in that ring and fight then you arc somebody. I Don t like to talk before a big fight. I hear my opponents talking about breaking my nose or bust in my lip that stuff just goes in one ear and out the other. I do my talking in the v corps Hitman Malcolm Cope is shooting for Simpkins at Usa eur. Cope was willing to do some talking he s an of fighter but they re blowing him up to be More than he is. I respect him a whole lot but he can be beat and he will be beat by Strong words but Simpkins shakes off any fear admitting for me to come out in Usa eur and lose would be like taking a step Down. There s going to be a lot of Guys out there Are gunning for me. I Ain t Givin up nothing. cart a was Iko iring to beat a year of misfortune. His Stepfather died in 1087, leaving behind a Wile and two children. Mother Mary i Erez had to make ends Meel on a 5 salary. Garcia quit school to help his Mother tie up the Louse ends. He look up a Jub with a roofing company to earn a Little extra Money and the Job started taking its Lull. Garcia discovered Lio Xing and working was a lot harder than boxing and going to High school. Eventually to found himself sailing in Waters nut compatible my thu ing. Out in the civilian world. Peer pressure he says struggling to explain his decision to join the army. I friends would take you out and get you messed up and i was doing that a lot. Some of Hose fights i lost i think maybe i could be won. So i joined the army for the better training. I want to succeed in boxing i really like it. Like the army says be All you can he i joined to better he joined in september 19b8, to begin his second attempt Al scaling the boxing ladder. As an Amateur he had risen to the height of being the third ranked featherweight nationally before his run of bad Luck toppled him. "1 hat s when my bad year came in. My training was off and my ranking. It was t even in the top 10," he says. Garcia overcame adversity. He went Back to school in i98fl to earn his diploma filings were turning around at Home. He Drew closer to his mom. A Light Bond. She s a major Force in his life. She got Back on her feet he said. My Mother Lias been behind me All the Way and if i just quit i would disappoint her. She put in a lot of hours to keep me in the boxing game. She did a lot just to keep me going. So if i quit i quit on her and i worked a lot and i had two jobs Mary Perez remembers and i did a lot because i wanted him to amount to if he had worked full Lime she said it would have hampered his boxing regimen. He recalls when he left Home. It was pretty painful. She did t know i was going in the army until a month before i left. I did it All on my own. She did t want me to but it s obvious that the pain of leaving Home was reciprocal. So Garcia or. Nuke fists rediscovered his other Home the boxing ring rent paid by the . Army. Garcia still thinks of his mom. And Mary Perez will be Happy to know that he still has t quit not on himself. And especially not on her. May 4, 7989 sir pcs Magazine 11
