{"id":425852,"date":"2026-08-06T23:26:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425852\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T23:26:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:26:29","slug":"a-big-youth-boxing-event-is-coming-to-east-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425852\/","title":{"rendered":"A Big Youth Boxing Event Is Coming to East Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday afternoon, Aug. 8, more than 40 young fighters will meet a boxing ring in East Oakland\u2019s San Antonio Park, taking turns throwing jabs and ducking hooks as they participate in the inaugural Fights & Function Fundraiser<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each fight is scheduled to go three rounds and will count toward the competitors\u2019 official amateur boxing record; the winner of each bout will receive a replica World Boxing Association belt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe OG, old-school coach in me believes that you don\u2019t get belts until a tournament or a world title as a pro,\u201d says Dalia \u201cLa Pantera\u201d Gomez<\/a> (also known as Coach G), founder of Vertical Skillz Outreach<\/a>, the organization behind the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the fact is,\u201d she tells me during a recent call, \u201ckids love belts, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ATitle belts will be awarded to the winner of each bout at the \u2018Fights & Function\u2019 event this Saturday at San Antonio Park in East Oakland.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the motivation behind this weekend\u2019s event, as well as Coach G\u2019s daily boxing training programs: making sure her fighters, specifically the younger ones, are happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to make these kids feel regal,\u201d Coach G says, \u201cbecause that\u2019s what they are \u2014warriors, kings and queens of this earth, let alone Oakland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title belts, adorned with the names of local sponsors and decorated with imitation gem stones, are also a bit of a tribute to Coach G\u2019s family roots.<\/p>\n

The belt\u2019s \u201crubies\u201d are an homage to her late grandmother. \u201cShe loved the color red, specifically red roses,\u201d she says. With her grandmother\u2019s love for flowers in mind, Coach G reflects on what Vertical Skillz Outreach has created at the park. \u201cHere we are,\u201d she says, pulling from Tupac\u2019s classic poem about defying the odds, \u201ctrying to be that rose that grows through concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AFighters flex their muscles at a recent Vertical Skillz Outreach boxing class at San Antonio Park in East Oakland.<\/p>\n

Coach G has pulled weeds from the park\u2019s cracked pavement and twisted her ankle on the uneven grounds; it\u2019s all a part of the sweat equity that has gone into the park since 2020. Back then, she says, \u201cNobody said anything when I was doing it on the on the playground, that\u2019s because there was a gigantic homeless encampment on the playground.\u201d<\/p>\n

She worked with occupants of the encampment, and got folks to make room for her to hang punching bags from the jungle gym. But once the space was cleared Coach G realized more kids were playing on the structure. \u201cI felt like I was in the way,\u201d she reflects, \u201cbecause I\u2019m hanging the bags on the monkey bars and all of the kids would monkey around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Realizing \u201cmore kids in the park is always great,\u201d she moved her boxing training program to the tennis courts. But with that expansion, and the later construction of a full boxing ring, came more eyes. Coach G met with former council member Nikki Fortunada Bass<\/a>, who was transparent: she couldn\u2019t give Coach G official permission to use the park, but they wouldn\u2019t stop her either.<\/p>\n

\u201cOakland had so many things going on, they just had to kind of turn a blind eye,\u201d Coach G explains.<\/p>\n

With a background in childhood development and a job as an OUSD teacher, Coach G\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 eased the process. \u201cThey didn\u2019t feel that it was a threat,\u201d she says, \u201cespecially because none of my kids would get any trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018When we had no lights, we still would train,\u2019 says Dalia \u2018La Pantera\u2019 Gomez, founder of Vertical Skillz Outreach.<\/p>\n

Originally from Oxnard (which, because of the amount of fighters who\u2019ve come from there, is also referred to as \u201cBoxnard<\/a>\u201c), Coach G was a college hooper before finding her way to the ring. A Golden Gloves Champion in 2015, she turned pro in 2017 and fought her last bout in 2019 \u2014 a fundraising venture in Tijuana.<\/p>\n

Before offering classes at San Antonio Park, Coach G would train fighters by Lake Merritt. While her main focus is using boxing as a tool to holistically mentor younger kids from the community, she\u2019s also worked with titans like famed Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coach G says that Brown once told her, \u201cYou know, Pantera, ain\u2019t nobody down to fight no more.\u201d People weren\u2019t willing to fight for a righteous cause, Coach G remembers Brown saying, \u201cEverybody\u2019s afraid to lose what they got.\u201d<\/p>\n

That pushed Coach G to consider how deeply people have been indoctrinated to think about themselves only. Boxing, like the revolutionary work of the Black Panther Party and the Brown Berets, isn\u2019t about concentrated power. \u201cTechnique comes way before power,\u201d Coach G professes, \u201cyou don\u2019t ever lead with power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, she says, a successful fighter and a impactful community activist should live by the same equation: \u201ctechnique plus speed equals power.\u201d<\/p>\n

So this Saturday at San Antonio Park, the site of the historic Chicano Moratorium<\/a> protest and the longstanding Malcolm X Jazz Festival<\/a>, her technique for creating change is to do it big for the community.<\/p>\n

In addition to two dozen boxing matches there\u2019ll be water balloons and a dunk tank, free breakfast served in the morning and old-school cars pulling up all afternoon. Marketing Kings\u2019 Tyranny Allen<\/a> will be the ringside announcer, and musicians including Stunnaman02<\/a> and Ian Kelly<\/a> are set to walk boxers out to the ring. \u201cI just want to do everything I can,\u201d says Coach G.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soil is very rich,\u201d she says, referring to the Town as a whole and going back to the analogy of a rose growing through concrete. \u201cI don\u2019t care what type of flower, weed, plant or fruit, it takes its time to grow \u2014 and we\u2019re constantly fighting through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fights & Function Fundraiser<\/a> takes place Saturday, Aug. 8, 12:30\u20136 p.m. at San Antonio Park (1701 E 19th St., Oakland). For tickets and information, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n