{"id":602487,"date":"2026-04-14T02:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602487\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T02:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:23:09","slug":"boxing-for-glory-and-for-fundraising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602487\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing for \u2018Glory\u2019 and for Fundraising"},"content":{"rendered":"

HEBER \u2014 Loud cheers from family and excitement filled the air in Heber\u2019s Prestige Event Center as young boxers prepared to enter the ring for Glory of Gloves, a fundraising event organized by Desert Combat Training, a martial arts gym located in El Centro, on Saturday, April 11.<\/p>\n

The sparring event featured boxers 7 years old and older. Everardo Rodriguez, coach at Desert Combat Training, explained that the matches in the event would be sparring, not full-out fights, the idea being a more controlled environment for the boxers to feel more comfortable inside the ring. There was no winner or a loser declared after each sparring match, with both boxers receiving medals and a strong applause from the crowd.<\/p>\n

The afternoon consisted of 35 matches, all organized by age, experience, and weight class. Fighters represented their respective boxing gyms from all across the Imperial Valley, and even a gym from San Luis, Arizona. \u201cThere\u2019s always a lot of different gyms that come to these events, we all like to support one another,\u201d said Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez explained that all the funds raised by the Glory of Gloves event was going to return to the boxers in the form of boxing equipment. \u201cThe equipment is for other gyms that may not have that economic solvency, we bought the bags and gloves and we are donating them to the gyms that are participating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A boxer walks past the crowd and toward the ring for his match while being wrapped by the Mexican flag in Prestige Event Center in Heber on Saturday, April 11. | YAMIR AGUILAR PHOTO<\/p>\n

For Rodriguez, one of the most impactful moments of his coaching experience has been working with his boxers with autism who have faced bullying. \u201cIt\u2019s a very beautiful experience for us, they are kids that need our support, emotional support, a bit more patience, it\u2019s all worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many of the boxers, like Jesus Ruiz, the excitement ran high as he wrapped his hands before his match. Ruiz, 15 years old, was inspired to box from watching the \u201cRocky\u201d movies and knew he wanted to be in the ring as early as 6 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s helped me grow as a person, it\u2019s helped me to develop respect for others in their craft and respect in whatever it is they\u2019re doing,\u201d said Ruiz.<\/p>\n

Ana Gonzalez, 10 years old, is the youngest of three sisters who have taken up boxing, and says that her older sisters inspired her to join and now she\u2019s enjoying the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ana sparred in the first match of the evening and was cheered on by her family and her gym, La Gente, located in Brawley.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Boxers from La Gente Gym, located in Brawley, warm up before their matches in Gloves of Glory, outside the Prestige Event Center in Heber on Saturday, April 11. | YAMIR AGUILAR PHOTO<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked it a lot and seeing all the support, I wasn\u2019t nervous,\u201d said Ana.<\/p>\n

See also<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Roberto Gonzalez, Ana\u2019s father and one of her coaches at La Gente Boxing Gym, says it is a mix of nerves and pride seeing his daughters box. \u201cIt\u2019s great, but when they\u2019re up in the ring and you\u2019re seeing them fight, things are different, feelings get more intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very good sport, it\u2019s very dedicated and you get to meet a lot of good people,\u201d added Roberto.<\/p>\n

The boxing gyms that organize and participate in the fundraising events like Gloves of Glory, take turns on who organizes, creating a system of support for all youth across different gyms.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m grateful for the crowd that came to support, we didn\u2019t expect this big of a turn out for being a new gym, but a lot of people came,\u201d said Rodriguez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HEBER \u2014 Loud cheers from family and excitement filled the air in Heber\u2019s Prestige Event Center as young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,227900,82,177007],"class_list":["post-602487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-heber-news","tag-sports","tag-youth-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602487","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=602487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}