CUERUS No 170

Glory Boxing Gym

By Robert Ramos

"Heart & Soul"

During the last few days remaining in 2010, as I vacationed with my family in Tucson Arizona to celebrate Christmas and New Year, I felt this strange urge pulling at me to visit the Glory Boxing gym in Phoenix, which was an hour and a half away. Being from Chicago, I asked a few family members to accompany me on this long and unfamiliar journey, but everyone turned me down, due to the pre-new year tamale and food preparations that needed to get done. Disappointedly, I searched for the motivation to go it alone. All of a sudden, just like clockwork, a posting from Glory Boxing Gym’s Facebook wall magically appeared. It read, “Jose Benavidez Jr. will be sparring at 5:00pm today, please stop by to watch the open public workout.” That was it, my mind was made up! I was going to visit this newly opened gym by Jose Benavidez Sr. The decision to open the gym was set after a year long training camp at Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym in Los Angeles, with his son, the up and coming boxer, future world champion, Jose Benavidez Jr.

I originally met the little known Jose Benavidez Jr. back in Chicago on May 29, 2010, after he fought his 6th pro fight at the UIC Pavilion and won by a devastating 1st round knockout. Jose Jr. was approachable and did not hesitate to pose for pictures with my son Alec and I. It was that personal experience and the fantastic display of ringmanship that Jose Jr. displayed while sparring with current world champion Manny Pacquiao on a YouTube video that made me want to learn more about him.

Jose’s father, Jose Benavidez Sr. explained, during their time in L.A. at Wild Card, both father and son gained much needed and valuable experience under the watchful and skilled eye of master trainer Freddie Roach. During their yearlong stay, they had the opportunity to spar with Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and many other great world ranked fighters. What led to the Benavidez’s return to Phoenix was that Freddie was being bombarded by other top ranked pro boxers who also craved for Freddie’s training, this in turn gave Freddie very limited time to work with the young Jose Jr. Father and son team Benavidez decided to back to the comfort of their hometown of Phoenix to refocus and utilize some of the knowledge they gained and hope to work with Freddie again in the near future.

With the opening of the Glory Boxing gym right smack in the middle of their "barrio viejo" (old neighborhood) Jose Sr. wants to give back to their community by offering hope via way of boxing to many underprivileged youth who reside there. Jose Sr. stated "We recently had a blanket drive and a toy drive here at the gym, so that the gym could help out those less fortunate and become a focal point of the community where everyone can feel welcome.” This is the feeling I got immediately after stepping foot in the gym. Jose Sr. also spoke to me about the misfortune of growing up without parents and how the cold hard streets of L.A. forced him to learn boxing simply for the means of self-defense and confessed that his boxing ring skills left little to be desired.

I mentioned to Jose Sr. that I was impressed at how well he had brought up his son, not only in regards to his boxing skills, but also to his mild mannered and well spoken demeanor. Jose Sr. thanked me, but modestly side stepped my compliment of his great ability to train and keep his son focused to compete at such an elite level. Jose Sr. said, “It is more important that my son Jose Jr. become a good person with integrity and fully understand the value of giving back to his community.” This “Pay it forward” attitude must stem from Jose Sr.’s personal experiences while growing up. Father and son bonded because of their mutual love for the sport of boxing, especially when Jose Jr. tried out many other sports like baseball and soccer, but it was boxing that won Jr. over.

I was also able to secure a one on one video interview with Jose Jr. We spoke of his past, present and future. The complete Jose Benavidez Jr. interview will be my upcoming story piece.

I met many other Glory boxing gym family members during my short visit, I was able to freely converse with parents of a few of the young boxer's, one of who's name is Alfredo Escarcega who spoke with me about and his son Alfredo Escarcega Jr. who has won numerous national boxing championships, being personally invited by the Benavidez family to join the Glory team and how excited he was to be a part of the gym.

I met another father, Dorian Khan Sr. who was also born in raised in Chicago just like I was. Dorian grew up on the Chicago’s south side and we spoke about the challenges that we both faced growing up on Chicago's mean streets. There were many similarities in our experiences even though we both lived on opposite sides of the city. We are both saddened on how youth are still killing each other at an alarming rate due to lack of productive after school programs. Dorian also spoke proudly of how his son 8 year old Dorian Khan Jr. who is the youngest and most inexperienced of all the Glory Boxing gym members, is now training with some of the best boxers in the nation. Dorian Sr. was pleasantly surprised at how the Mexican never back down tough style of fighting that is common at Glory is now rubbing off on his son, who normally chooses to box, stick and move his way out of sticky situations while competing. Now, Dorian Jr. has no problems going "mano a mano" (toe to toe) with tough puncher brawlers.

I also met Jaime Bojado, whom I was surprised to find out is the younger cousin of the once famous upcoming star boxer, Francisco Bojado from L.A. Jaime is also originally from L.A., but now resides in Buckeye Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. Jaime is definitely not lacking any boxing skill, or fame in his own right. Jaime is currently ranked #2 in the nation within the USA Boxing Jr. Men’s 132 pound open division and has over 149 bouts with only 9 losses on his amateur record. Jaime’s goal is to gain a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team and one day world champion, however, unlike many young boxers who aspire to become a champion, Jaime’s record and experience clearly shows he’s the “real deal.” I see a great future for this charismatic young man and hope to secure a more detailed interview with him soon.

I also had the pleasure of meeting the newly crowned Queen of Glory, gym manager Emily Pandelakis, who at first eyed me with caution and curiosity, but then easily warmed up when I told her I was writing for Cuerus, a Chicago bilingual boxing newspaper and was interested in writing about Jose Benavidez Jr. At one point during our friendly and effortless back and forth banter, Emily jokingly stated that she would have me thrown out of the gym immediately if I didn’t behave. I’m sure as nice of a person that she is, she would definitely have no problem doing so.

Even though I longed to reunite with my family back in Tucson, I felt a bit reluctant and sad to leave the gym, especially knowing that I had a 151 mile ride back, however, the lengthy yet peaceful drive gave me time to reflect on my visit. I now knew the reason that I felt pulled so strongly to go visit the small Glory Boxing gym, past the long stretch of desert in the middle of the “barrio Viejo,” the place was filled with God’s spirit and overflowing with “Heart and Soul.”

Pacquiao-Mosley: Business First And Fans Somewhere Down The Line

By Elvers Brooks

Many fans all over the world are upset because Manny Pacquiao will face Shane Mosley May 7, 2011. Pacquiao, considered to be the best boxer in the world, is coming off a dominating win over Antonio Margarito in November to claim the vacant WBC Junior Middleweight title. After a failed attempt to land a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao and his promoter Top Rank were forced to find another opponent. The options for opponents were, Andre Berto, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Shane Mosley.

Andre Berto, the WBC welterweight champion, has yet to face any serious competition and is unknown to everyone except die hard boxing fans. The lack of public recognition makes the fight with Berto a tough sale even for the extremely popular Manny Pacquiao. Fight fans seem to clamor for a third fight between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez because of the closeness of their first two fights which ended in a draw in 2004 and a split decision win for Pacquiao in 2008.

q However outside of boxing fans Marquez is not widely known which does not translate into a huge profit. The only option left for Pacquiao, Sugar Shane Mosley, had a rough 2010 after getting thoroughly dominated by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May and fighting to a boring and disappointing draw with Sergio Mora in September. But so what, who cares? Remember how many people were upset about Pacquiao fighting Antonio Margarito, the guy many believe purposely loaded his gloves to cheat? There were all kinds of talks on Facebook and Twitter among many other websites and social media outlets from fans about boycotting the fight. One fan emailed me saying Pacquiao-Margarito was a horrible fight and would kill the sport of boxing.

With all of the negative talk about that fight you would’ve thought only a hundred people would attend the fight and even less would watch it on television. After it was all said and done Pacquiao-Margarito had over 40,000 people in attendance at Cowboy Stadium and sold over one million PPVs which is pretty good for a fight no one wanted to see.

q Pacquiao-Mosley was not a highly demanded fight by the fans, but it is the most profitable fight at this time for each fighter and Top Rank. Mosley, a future hall of famer and a three division champ, has fought and beaten many of the great fighters of his era. He has fast hands, a strong chin, great knockout power, and has never been knocked out. He comes to fight no matter who the opponent is and always goes for the knockout. Mosley brings a recognizable name, a great resume, and more money and star power than any other fighter available not named Floyd Mayweather Jr. Many argue that Mosley does not deserve a fight with Pacquiao based on his last two fights, but again who cares?

Star power is the only reason George Foreman got his chance to knockout Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion ever. Foreman had been inactive for over a year and dominated in his previous fight. Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, and Muhammad Ali are also great examples of fighters with star power who got chances not demanded, but the public always tuned in to see fight. Top Rank is in the business of making money promoting fights not pleasing every fan by promoting fights.

What we have to remember is boxing, like all companies, is business first then fans somewhere down the line. Just like I heard in a rap song, “if it don’t make dollars it don’t make sense,” well the same goes for boxing. Pacquiao-Mosley is going to make dollars, so despite what fans say it still makes sense.

CUERUS No 169

CUERUS - Número 169

Desde La Esquina del Editor

Por: Miguel Mijes

La primera en la frente…

Respecto a la juventud actual, llámame la atención, la aficionada al boxeo. ¿Sabía usted, que un prospecto a este deporte es un candidato a convertirse en alcohólico o drogadicto?
Razón por la que nosotros en los últimos 41 años, hemos tratado de devolver la calma a nuestra propia conciencia, adiestrando por medio de la práctica del boxeo, no sólo a la juventud sino a adultos, que desconocen que el compartir sus conocimientos con la juventud es un acierto.
La tónica de esta columna no es moralista, pero como este deporte nuestro toca “a veces” no solo dichas fibras, también éticas y filosóficas es la única razón por la que hemos escogido compartir y enseñar con él que así nos lo permite.

La Segunda en la boca…

La práctica del boxeo siempre ha sido útil para la humanidad, tómelo usted, como lo tome. Ya alguien en mi tierra Irapuato Guanajuato, dijo: “El boxeo es como el mar, saca la basura”.
Aquí en Chicago, boxísticamente hablando: “Nuestro Rancho querido”. Porque para nosotros, es la mejor manera de describir, la verdadera situación, ¡UN PINCHE RANCHOTE! -si usted como aficionado- “de hueso colorado” no se había dado cuenta de ello, pero al cual queremos con toda el alma, con todo y clima, qué chingaos”
Vera usted, existe en nuestro Chicago, un buen número de gente con los medios financieros que es avezada al mismo, pero que aunque desconoce este deporte cree que su situación económica, lo absuelve de errores a los que su propia ignorancia lo pueden acarrear.
Dice un refrán que oímos en mi tierra (Irapuato Gto.); “Una golondrina no hace verano”.