A Fighting Chance : Boxing Club Back on Its Feet and Keeping Youths Off Street

The bell clangs and 9-year-old Christopher Munoz steps from the plywood boxing ring, sweat covering his face and arms, a tiny spot of blood visible just below one nostril.

As a buddy helps him out of enormous red-leather gloves, Christopher explains excitedly why he goes three rounds at this makeshift gym off Ventura Avenue each afternoon.

“I’m going to be Rocky when I grow up,” he announces in Spanish.

When Ventura resident Steve Padilla started a youth boxing club this year in one of Ventura’s poorest neighborhoods, it was to give boys such as Christopher an alternative to the streets, a place to learn self-esteem and discipline.

But city red tape threatened to deliver a knockout blow to Padilla’s plan by preventing him from obtaining an operating permit.

Instead of giving up, the 36-year-old quietly--and, he admits, illegally--opened the gym anyway.

Now the San Buenaventura Boxing Club has 60 members, mostly Latino youths from nearby poor neighborhoods, and is about to move out of an aging basement into a new, earthquake-safe facility at Westpark Community Center.

With the move, expected next week, the city of Ventura will become a co-sponsor of the organization, giving it a $5,000 annual budget and the city’s official sanction.

More significant, Padilla said, the city is recognizing that boxing can be a positive force for youths who might otherwise join a street gang because they are bored or lack direction.

“When you can attract 50 or 60 kids to something like that, rather than their being out on the streets and being attracted to the criminal element, you’ve got to do something about it,” said Roberta Payan, Westpark’s director.

Padilla grew up in the Ventura Avenue area, but moved away to attend college in Northern California. He hit upon the idea of opening a boxing club after he moved back to the neighborhood three years ago.

“I saw all the apathy and the hopelessness and just the sadness of growing up in this neighborhood,” he explained.

Property values for the neighborhood are among the lowest in the city, and many children who live there come from single-parent homes. Padilla, the father of three children, said he was concerned about the welfare of neighbors and of his own family.

He pitched his idea to the city during a community gang task force meeting a year ago. It initially was met with resistance by some task force members, who feared that a boxing program would only encourage violence, Padilla said.

But city officials eventually agreed to allocate $5,000 in seed money to get the program going, he said. Padilla found a 1,100-square-foot basement in an aging apartment house on East Simpson Street to use as a gym.

He hit another roadblock, however, when the Planning Commission refused to grant an operating permit, saying the building needed thousands of dollars of work to strengthen it against an earthquake, Padilla said.

The work would have taken months and would have forced the landlord to charge much more than the $200 a month he was asking for the basement, Padilla said. Instead, he declined the city’s offer of support and opened the gym with his own money, which he obtained by working odd jobs and seeking donations from others.

Code enforcement officers could have come and shut him down, but they didn’t, said Gary Ray, Ventura’s community services director. Ray said he believes the boxing club provides a positive alternative for Ventura Avenue youth and has given Padilla crucial support in guiding the project through City Hall.

At Ray’s urging, city officials agreed to provide space for the boxing club at Westpark. The move to the recreation center “is going to legitimize their existence,” Ray said.

The boxing ring will operate initially at an outdoor patio that city workers have fenced off to reduce wind and noise from nearby California 33. The top will be enclosed with a tarp, Ray said. The city plans to build a 3,000-square-foot addition to the recreation center within a year. That $125,000 project, which has already been approved by the City Council, will replace the patio as the club’s permanent home, Ray said.

A room adjoining the patio has been outfitted with $25,000 worth of Nautilus weight-training equipment donated by the Ventura Athletic Club. New headgear, mouthpieces, gloves and punching bags will be purchased to add to the worn equipment already owned by the club, Ray said.

The modern facilities at Westpark are in sharp contrast with the run-down basement that the club now uses.

During a recent visit to the East Simpson Street gym, cracked mirrors placed against a brick wall reflected youthful boxers as they beat on worn punching bags, skipped rope, shadowboxed and sparred with partners.

Youths ranging in age from 6 to the mid-20s stood near a makeshift plywood ring--built by Padilla and his head coach, Jose Salas--eagerly waiting their turn to go a few rounds. The words eye of the storm are spray-painted on a nearby wall.

Salas, a former Golden Gloves boxer in Mexico, stands a few feet from the fighters in the ring, offering instruction and encouragement in Spanish.

“Move closer,” he tells two novices, one 8 years old, the other 6, eyeing them closely. “Stay on two feet. Go. Go.”

The boxers are charged $10 a month, which includes use of the gym, equipment and coaching. If that is too steep for a family, Padilla waives the fee and arranges for the youth to perform a community service, such as covering up graffiti, cleaning empty lots or cutting grass for seniors. Padilla and Salas volunteer their time and use the money collected to pay the gym’s bills and replace equipment.

An expert in gangs for the Oxnard Police Department said youth boxing clubs in that city have given boys a chance to do something constructive instead of joining a street gang. One boxer at the La Colonia Boxing Center tried out for the Olympic team this year, Officer Jim Smith said.

“Boxing clubs are going to help those individuals who are on the borderline, who have not decided which way they are going to go, to get into something that is positive and fun,” Smith said.

Ralph Gomez Sr. of Oak View said he has been bringing his 14-year-old son, Ralph Jr., for daily lessons since school ended. He displays tattoos he has worn on his arms since his days in a Ventura Avenue youth gang. Gomez said he hopes the boxing program will keep his son off the streets.

“This is the best thing that could happen. You know where your kids are all the time,” Gomez said. “And when they get home, they’re too tired to do anything but eat and go to sleep.”