SOCORRO, Texas \u2014 A series of amateur boxing meetups in public parks across Socorro and nearby El Paso is stirring debate after viral social media videos caught the attention of city officials. What organizers say is a harmless way to relieve stress local leaders are calling unsafe and inappropriate for family-friendly spaces.<\/p>\n
The group led by organizer Timmy Gar has been gathering at various parks with little more than yellow caution tape and a couple of pairs of gloves. Gar says the goal is simple: create a space where adults can practice boxing, stay active and blow off steam after long workdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of these fights is to release the stress,\u201d Gar said. \u201cSome of them have hard jobs\u2026construction, welders, everything. We just wanted to release the stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gar and his friends say the events are not underground fight clubs. There is no betting, no entry fees and no prizes \u2014 just sparring sessions open to anyone who wants to participate. As the videos spread online, more people began showing up, including newcomer David Hernandez, who says the environment was welcoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were very kind,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cI signed in, had a really good fight, and I excelled.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the visibility also brought scrutiny.<\/p>\n
The Socorro Police Department declined to speak on camera but issued a statement saying the city \u2014 located 20 minutes southeast of El Paso \u2014 will not tolerate \u201cunsafe, hostile, or violent activities\u201d in public parks or on city property. Officials say the boxing meetups set a poor example for young people and could lead to injuries or unsafe situations for bystanders.<\/p>\n
Gar disagrees, calling the city\u2019s stance disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTelling us that we are a threat, when these are 18-year-old men who just want to spar. \u2026 Nobody is going to be seriously hurt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since the city publicly urged residents to report the meetups, the group has temporarily moved its events to private properties. Still, they say their goal is to return to public parks, insisting their activities are no different from friends meeting to play soccer, football or basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will gather at parks like any other sport,\u201d Gar said. \u201cSparring sessions of boxing \u2014 it\u2019s still a sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, the future of these informal boxing matches remains unclear. City leaders stand firm on keeping them out of public spaces, while the fighters say they\u2019ll continue pushing for a return to the parks where the movement began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOCORRO, Texas \u2014 A series of amateur boxing meetups in public parks across Socorro and nearby El Paso…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2160,132,1570,102,138,140,139,8074,223,8075,82,1569,2053,835],"class_list":["post-81849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-app-top-stories","tag-austin","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-luis-garcia","tag-news","tag-rotx-what-you-need-to-know","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}