Fighting for a Future : La Habra Boxing Club Offers At-Risk Youths a Sporting Chance

LA HABRA —  Nearly every day after school, Enrique Ornelas gets into a fight.

But these aren’t gang rumbles or street brawls.

Enrique, 12, throws his punches in the ring at the La Habra Boxing Club. And with each new fight comes a valuable lesson. The sparring, according to the Imperial Middle School seventh-grader, has brought him self-confidence and gets him “off the streets.”

His coach, Dave Martinez, founded the club a decade ago to offer the city’s youths an alternative to gangs and violence while instilling self-esteem. Enrique conceded that if the boxing club didn’t exist, he probably would have joined a gang or would be hanging out with his friends and causing trouble.

Martinez, 46, said he became discouraged watching children get involved in gangs and hurting themselves with drugs and violence in the neighborhood where he grew up. So he decided to do something.

He and his cousin, Ray Molina, began teaching some of those restless youths how to box in Molina’s garage in 1981. A year later, they asked the City Council for permission to turn the vacant Our Lady of Guadalupe Church into the city’s only boxing club.

The club, sponsored by the city and the La Habra Boys and Girls Club, now has about 100 children and adults enrolled in the free program. Six club members have become professional boxers, and some still train there.

Joey Martin, 21, a professional boxer with a record of nine wins and one loss, began his boxing career six years ago under Martinez’s guidance. Young boys admire Martin and watch him train every afternoon.

“They make my workout harder,” Martin said of the youngsters who study his weaving and jabbing. “I want them to have the same experience I got because I know they have the desire. A lot of these little kids are pretty good.”

Though teaching youths how to box is the emphasis at the club, Martinez said he also encourages members to participate in school sports and to excel in academics. “It’s not just boxing here,” he said. “The kids do it more for self-esteem.”

But some also do it because they dream of becoming professional boxers.

Take Vincent Martinez, for example. The 14-year-old Imperial Middle School student--who is not related to the club’s founder--races to the boxing club after school almost every day, sometimes spending three hours there. “It’s not like any other sport,” he said. “It’s special, and I just feel wanted here. It’s like a different world.”

On a recent afternoon, Vincent and Enrique anxiously waited as Dave Martinez laced the red and blue gloves on their hands so they could get in the ring. Once inside, the two boys began bouncing and punching. Enrique, who has been receiving lessons for three years, was instructed to take it easy on his less-experienced opponent.

“Don’t lean back too much,” Martinez told Vincent.

The boys calmly left the ring after sparring and headed over to the foosball table.

“There are no losers here,” Martinez said. “Only winners--after the matches and in life.”

The club provides a place for youngsters age 7 and older to hone their boxing skills or just pal around without the peer pressure and gang influence found on the streets, Martinez said. “Kids will hang around here for hours and hours just to hang around because this is neutral ground. Gangs don’t bother this place much,” he said.

The club also offers other activities, such as camping in the mountains and attending Los Angeles Raiders football games and California Angels baseball games. About once a month, club members attend professional boxing matches at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

“A lot of these kids wouldn’t have the opportunity to do these things without us because of financial strains on their families,” Martinez said. “The trips give them something to work hard for. We try to take them out of the neighborhood to show them that there is more to life than just hanging around the neighborhood.”

And what they learn through boxing, he said, can make them better adults.

Self-worth and pride go hand in hand at the club, Martinez said.

“Boxing is an individual sport, and because a lot of the kids that come here have low self-esteem, their self-esteem jumps 100% right away, and the boxing brings out their full potential,” he said.

Many of his pupils “were on the verge of joining gangs,” Martinez added. “This club can’t solve the gang problem, but it’s a positive alternative.”

The young boxers praised Martinez’s coaching technique.

“Dave really encourages you to be the best you can be. He makes me feel good,” Vincent said.

Fourteen-year-old Joey Gutierrez agreed. “He gives everyone a chance and gives us self-confidence,” he said.

The club is a big part of Enrique’s life. “I come here all the time because I like to,” he said. “It gets me away from gangs, and I get experience doing something I really like.”