Villa-Parke’s Boxing Guru Fausto De La Torre Mentors the City’s Youth

[Pasadena’s youth amateur boxers will step into the ring and showcase their skills in the bi-annual Villa-Parke Boxing Show this Saturday. Here is a look at Fausto De La Torre, the man who has run that well-regarded program for decades.]

All it takes is a man with a vision for hope and a passion for what he does to impact a community in ways that make the world a better place. For Pasadena, this man is Fausto De La Torre, the boxing guru and “king of the ring” with the Villa-Parke Community Center’s popular boxing program.

For nearly three decades, the program has been mentoring kids in the sport of boxing under the guidance of De La Torre’s supportive and resilient training. Rewind to the 1980’s when De La Torre was in his teens. He was born and raised in Pasadena near the Villa-Parke Center where today he spends every day interacting and teaching kids, teenagers and adults.

It was a tough neighborhood with a lot of gang violence, he remembers. De La Torre recalls seeing walls blanketed with graffiti and the invasion of street drugs on every corner, plaguing the community and stereotyping Northwest Pasadena as a dangerous area of town.

Little did he know at first, but would discover, that athletics can become a way to stay out of trouble.

“Honestly, boxing saved my life,” said De La Torre.

De La Torre saw the opportunity that boxing could provide at the early age of nine. He described himself as a hyperly overactive kid with a lot of energy that would lose focus constantly.

This behavior eventually resulted in frequent fights at school, but ultimately led to adults recommending getting into boxing as a proactive way to learn discipline and release his natural volatility and energy.

He recalls the humble beginnings of the boxing gym in the 1980’s and how it has changed. Described as once an aluminum hut reminiscent of an small airplane hangar, he and his friends would go there and sweat it out on a daily basis — working on their technique.

Although now it is a proper boxing gym equipped with all of the necessary components, it has always been a place for kids to congregate and feel safe.

“This was my safe haven growing up in this neighborhood,” said De La Torre.

He witnessed his peers and friends get caught up in gangs and the troubles that came with that lifestyle and knew that if he didn’t stay focused, he would fall into that life, too.

“I was destined for failure, and destined to become drug addict, a gang member and to be in jail.” said De La Torre. “I was destined to be dead.”

He quickly realized he didn’t want to be a number in a gang statistic and boxing was the way to stay out of trouble and work towards something bigger than himself.

By age 19 after several years of honing his boxing skills, De La Torre was an established local boxer who was on the road to turn pro. His prospects of athletic success were gaining steam until the death of his Villa-Parke boxing mentor changed his path. It was a blessing in an unfortunate disguise for the future of the program.

As a volunteer working under his mentor, De La Torre had a personal responsibility to pick up where his hero left off. He decided to dedicate his time to Villa-Parke full time.

“I had already committed to some of these kids and I couldn’t turn my back on them.”

Eventually the opportunity came up where a replacement was needed and De La Torre was the obvious choice. The community took a chance on him.

De La Torre is glued to this gym in ways that most people don’t understand. It has become an extension of himself in more ways than one. In the rare event that he must take one day off due to illness or some other emergency, the gym is always on his mind.

“When I need to take a day off all I think about is being here. I think about new ways I can improve it. I’m thinking about the kids and how I can improve them. I never stop,” said De La Torre.

This obsession if for a good reason. On a daily basis, De La Torre trains about fifty kids and adults ages eight to forty, six days a week all year long. with an open door policy. No kid is turned away and everyone is welcomed in his gym.

He lives, breathes and dreams of the gym and everything that comes with it. He thrives on seeing results from his students and by keeping the spark ignited.

“My reward comes from seeing these kids apply what we worked so hard on,” said De La Torre.

He feels that boxing is a metaphor for the kids that they will carry with them throughout life. Pivotal moments like stepping in the ring for a first official match, or having their arms raised in the wake of a victory are memories that resonate and trigger self worth and perseverance.

“I tell them to remember that life is boxing. You’re going to get low blows in life, but what are you going to do? You’re not going to give up. You’re going to get back up just like you did in this ring,” explained De La Torre.

He makes sure to give one-on-one coaching to each and every student in order for them to benefit from the experience in the most valuable way by finding their own rhythm and training style.

De La Torre is constantly reminded of the impact and longstanding legacy that dedication spanning over two decades yields. From second generation students entering his program to plans of renovating and expanding the facility, the Villa-Parke boxing program has cemented itself as a community mainstay for the long haul.

Among the long list of De La Torre’s impressive techniques, his zero tolerance policy in regards to engaging in street fights has proven effective, even after having several thousand students under his instruction.

“In my twenty years of being here, I have never had a complaint from a teacher, parent or anyone of that nature that one of my kids started something and beat someone up,” explained De La Torre.

Whether a kid wants to become a professional boxer, learn self defense, or be apart of a regimen that celebrates dedication and discipline, his program at Villa-Parke is the place to start.

People like De La Torre are integral figures of Pasadena who provide a secondary home for the youth to feel inspired and loved for a lifetime. Thanks to his love for the sport and the city that shaped him into the man he is today, De La Torre plans on being at Villa-Parke for a long, long time.

“I haven’t worked a day in my life because I love what I do. I’ll be here forever.”