Veteran trainer Robert Garcia is looking forward to shepherding the comeback of Vergil Ortiz Jr.

Garcia, who is based in Riverside, Calif., recently shared on his social media that he was back to training Ortiz, the puncher out of Grand Prairie, Texas, whose career has been derailed due to repeated health complications.

The two worked together for more than three years until November of 2021. Oritz has been trained by his own father, Vergil Ortiz Sr., and Hector Beltran.

The hard-charging career welterweight was supposed to fight fellow top contender Eimantas Stanionis earlier this year, but their bout had had to be postponed three times, two of which were a result of Ortiz’s battle with rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening condition in which the breakdown of muscle can potentially inflict irreparable harm to the kidneys.

Ortiz is now set to make his 154-pound debut on Jan. 6 against Ghana’s Frederick Lawson at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. It will be the first time he has fought since he stopped England’s Michael McKinson in nine rounds at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

In a recent interview, Garcia explained how he re-linked with Ortiz.

“A couple of months ago, I flew out to Dallas and went to visit him and the dad,” Garcia told FightHubTV. “They picked me up at the airport … we went to their house, showed me around, and it makes me happy to see someone who had nothing growing up to having a nice house. They took me to another property that they had. …So we had a good talk there. I went to him because of what happened in his last fight, as friends. Everything started getting back to … little Vergil told me about personal things. We had a good talk about that, school, a lot of things that friends tell each other. That made me feel good too. And now we’re here.

“If I would have seen that he’s not happy here, that it was a little awkward—everybody gave him a great welcome, as if he never left. …We picked up as if nothing ever happened.”

“Look, the thing is we always stayed on good terms,” Garcia added. “Little Vergil is a great person, great heart, just so humble that you cannot dislike this kid. And staying in touch with the dad … so we always stayed in that kind of friendship, that ‘how you doin’?’ kind of relationship. …We never ended our relationship where we were not friends, where we were not communicating. These things happen in boxing. One day the fighter thinks something is better for them somewhere else and that’s fine. I wish everybody good luck.”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.