{"id":395444,"date":"2026-01-08T05:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395444\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:22:07","slug":"ceres-teen-sees-early-success-as-boxer-earns-spot-on-team-usas-national-youth-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395444\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceres teen sees early success as boxer, earns spot on Team USA’s national youth roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

At just 15 years old, Ceres boxer Damon Flores is already an 18-time national champion and an 11-time USA Boxing gold medalist.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Damon added another major milestone by winning the 2025 USA Boxing National Championships and earning a spot on Team USA’s national youth roster.<\/p>\n

Damon has been boxing nearly his entire life. His father, Damian Flores, introduced him to the sport at a young age, years before he was eligible to compete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through USA Boxing, athletes must be at least 8 years old to enter sanctioned tournaments, but Damon began training as early as 3 or 4.<\/p>\n

By age 8, Damon was already winning national titles.<\/p>\n

“I’m still excited, but I just win a lot,” Damon said.<\/p>\n

While success has become familiar, his most recent championship in Texas carried a heavier meaning.<\/p>\n

Before the tournament, Damon’s endurance coach, Patrick Peterson, was grieving the loss of his 14-year-old son, Armani Peterson, who was killed in the Stockton birthday party<\/a> shooting that drew national attention. Just one day later, Damon’s great-grandmother passed away.<\/p>\n

Despite the losses, Damon traveled to Texas and won the national title, dedicating the victory to his family and supporters.<\/p>\n

That win secured him a spot on Team USA, placing him on the Olympic development pathway through USA Boxing.<\/p>\n

To balance training and competition, Damon is now homeschooled. His days often begin before sunrise and include multiple training sessions, focusing on conditioning, endurance and strength.<\/p>\n

“He’s working. So this is the job,” Damien said. “His friends don’t see that part because they’re in school. But, you know, working twice a day, and sometimes three times a day.”<\/p>\n

Damon continues to train at the Performance Lab, where coaches say elite preparation is essential to competing at the highest level.<\/p>\n

Damon said his focus remains on growth and encouraging other young athletes to stay committed to their goals.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At just 15 years old, Ceres boxer Damon Flores is already an 18-time national champion and an 11-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,167251,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-395444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-ceres-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}