Ex-Gang Member Saves Fighting for Ring : Welterweight Richard Aguirre to Face Mexico’s Jose De Anda Tonight

Richard Aguirre, at 21 a youngster still, is a welterweight boxer who abhorred violence while a gang member during his younger days in the Spring Valley area.

Aguirre joined a gang, as many of his friends had, but he was selective about when and in what he would participate.

“I never fought in the streets,” said Aguirre, who graduated from Morse High School in 1981. “I joined because of friends and peer pressure. There was a lot of drugs and violence, I just seemed not be around when it happened.

“When they went out to get high or do their thing, I wasn’t around. By choice.”

Some of Aguirre’s buddies didn’t have that kind of discretion.

“There was a party in Shelltown where three guys got shot and killed,” Aguirre said. “I used to go out with one of the guy’s sisters. A lot of my friends are in jail. That’s not for me--I know I have more than that.”

Aguirre turned to boxing, and that same sense for ducking trouble--not to mention hooks--has enabled him to get his career off to a fast start. Aguirre has won his first 11 bouts, eight via knockout. He’s the fifth-ranked welterweight in California.

Aguirre will be trying to make it a dozen wins in a row tonight at the El Cortez Hotel. He’ll face Jose De Anda, Mexico’s No. 5 welterweight. De Anda is 24-3 with 15 knockouts. The Aguirre-De Anda fight is the main event of a seven-bout card, which starts at 7 p.m.

“My mind is geared to the fight,” Aguirre said. “It’s a turning point. I needed to fight someone of this caliber to prove I’m worthy.”

Promoter Mike Altinger also sees this as a key fight for Aguirre.

“It’s a good test for Richard,” he said. “If he takes this guy, he’s ready to go to the top.”

By that, Altinger meant the world standings, not just California.

“Richard is one heck of a puncher,” Altinger said. “Probably the biggest puncher in the U.S. No one in the U.S. hits harder that he does. You have to shake people (the ones Aguirre knocks out) to make sure they’re still alive. He’s even with Sugar Ray Leonard at this stage of his career.”

Is this the real thing or merely promotional rhetoric?

“The kid has definitely got some talent--raw talent.” said Jerry Moore, Aguirre’s Los Angeles-based trainer. “I was brought in to smooth him out, give him more technique. He’s working on balance and how to punch and when to fight. He could be a great fighter in a couple of years.”

Said Aguirre: “I’m an all-around fighter. I’m a boxer and a puncher. I can move. I’m a smart fighter--I’m not dumb. A lot of fighters make fights hard. They just throw punches.”

Aguirre’s mother, Rosalia, has never seen a punch her son has thrown in the ring. In fact, Aguirre hasn’t seen his mom since he was 8.

Aguirre’s parents had been divorced, and Aguirre’s mother put Richard and his two brothers in their father’s hands because she was unable to provide for them financially. Rosalia eventually moved to Tulsa, where she still lives.

“She felt that was needed at the time,” Aguirre said. “I was hurt when I was growing up. I didn’t understand why.”

It’s been 13 years since Aguirre has seen his mother, but they talk on the phone frequently. She is as well-informed on her son’s boxing exploits as anyone.

“I send her articles before and after my fights,” Aguirre said. “She plays an important part in my life in boxing. I want to go far in boxing so she won’t worry about me.

“She feels bad about what she did--this makes her feel better. There’s a lot of deep feeling.”

Asked if he’d ever get together with his mother again, a big smile broke out across his face.

“I’m going to see her before the year ends,” Aguirre said. “That’s a promise I’ve made to myself. I’d love to see her--really.”

Aguirre wasn’t enamored with the gang scene as a teen-ager. It was that attitude which made a potentially profitable boxing career possible.

“I never had a hunger for it (gang violence)--I never had a stomach for it,” Aguirre said. “I always had direction.”

The direction would now seem to be up.