Young Stockton Boxer Will Fight With Team USA In Russia
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Gabriel Felix Flores started boxing at 7 years old inside his father's garage.
"Since I was 4 or 5 I was watching my older brother train in the garage," said Flores. "I just fell in love with it and I asked my pops if I could start training."
By age 11, Flores started to show real talent as a boxer, winning his first championship and picked up Stockton Monuments as his sponsor.
"I'm a pure boxer," said Flores, who won seven national titles before entering high school. "I love to use my jab. I'll counter punch, but if I really have to switch up my style to win the fight, I will do that."
His father, Gabriel Flores Sr., is his trainer, but not a boxer himself. He took coaching classes to keep his sons safe in the ring.
"I was a bad kid, but I didn't want that for my son, so that's why I put him in and just made sure he went in the right direction," said Flores Sr.
It turns out, Flores Sr. has a talent for coaching and recently opened his own gym and has professional and champion boxers from San Jose and Sacramento come to Stockton to train with him.
"He made me who I am," said Flores. "When he says something, I know exactly what he's talking about and I go out there and perfect that as much as I can."
This past weekend, Flores won the USA Boxing Youth Open in Reno, Nevada. This September, he'll fight with Team USA in Russia.
"This is my life," said Flores. "This is my passion. I love everything about it."
