Almost every day inside the gym of the Bakersfield Police Activities League you can find 19 year old Miguel Contreras. "I have big dreams and I plan on fulfilling them all," he said.
Watch him inside the ring and you'll see his grit, his toughness and his self discipline. "After school (he comes) straight here," said his coach and trainer Daniel Alcala. "Goes home does his homework, goes to bed. Same routine."
Growing up less than a mile from the gym, Miguel saw the same routine as his only choice. "It gets kind of rough," he said when talking about the neighborhood in which he was raised. "There's gang violence. Drug addicts up and down the street. I had friends that chose a different path so the boxing gym was always an escape route for me."
Alcala knows just how valuable it is to have boxing as an option. "Some of us we used to get in trouble from the house to the gym," he said. "It's a decision everyday what you're going to do for the day and he's been making the right decision for ten years."
All that hard work is starting to pay off. He won his first three professional fights in Mexico propelling him to sign with Sheer Sports Management Company. Because of his self discipline-he'd no longer have to be self-funded. "I remember our last fight we were scraping up pennies just to get back here," Contreras said.
In a sport as demanding as boxing it's not just the physical hits to the body but the mental strength required to face an opponent who's one goal is to hurt you. In a sport that taxing, finding inspiration is key. "The only thing that motivates me now is the chance to get my family out of our situation. If this opportunity provides a way to make it out then by all means necessary I'm putting everything I have into this sport," Contreras said.
Not that he'd ever forget but tattooed on his right arm is a bible verse (1 Corinthians 9: 24-27) stressing the need for self-discipline.
"No matter what," said Alcala. "How hard it is. How much pain, the heart he has, he just keeps going. "
He'll keep fighting, not just for his dreams, but for the chance to give his family a better life.
He's hoping to have more fights closer to home so his family can come watch. On June 24th he'll have his first professional fight in the US in Palm Springs.
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