Meet Trainer Fausto De La Torre

“Boxing saved my life!”

Every November we all look forward to a Thanksgiving feast–roast turkey and gravy with all the trimmings, green beans, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. A bountiful meal most of us take for granted.

This holiday dinner is one thing that boxing trainer Fausto De La Torre will never ever take for granted. In fact, there’s not much in life that the former amateur standout and veteran coach does take for granted.

Growing up and running amuck on the streets of L.A., a young Fausto didn’t have much self-respect, ambition or goals for his future. As a self-described juvenile delinquent, he didn’t even know if he had a future.

And that’s when fate and the sweet science stepped in.

“If it wasn’t for boxing, I don’t know where I’d be. I don’t know what man I would have become,” De La Torre explains quietly. “A while back, I got into some trouble as a juvenile. I was on the streets a lot.” His voice gets more somber and serious as he says, “I saw a lot. Guys getting shot, guys OD’ing in front of me…”

He had first began to box at age nine, but then fell prey to street life as a wayward young teen. After being forced to finish his education at continuation schools, he found his way back into the gym. Since then, he’s never looked back.

But he has also never forgotten his lean times, those times of struggle.

And how every year, even though he was just a child, provided a Thanksgiving bird for his whole family through the sport of boxing.

The 35-year-old trainer recalls how amateur boxing earned him and his family a hot meal. “Ben Lira from South El Monte always had a Thanksgiving show,” he recalls. “We’d fight for a turkey–and the winner would walk off with a frozen turkey!”

Times were tough back then with dollars stretched thin, not much remaining for a proper feast. For a small boy, this was a lot of pressure riding on his tiny shoulders, but Fausto remained determined and motivated to bring home the bounty for his devoted and hard-working mother and his four siblings.

“My mom was a single mother. We had our struggles,” he admits of his childhood. “There were five kids in a one-bedroom house. So I knew I had to win; I really wanted to win. Second place got nothing back then!

“I did feel some pressure; we didn’t have any money. And my brothers would tell me, ‘You better win, you better bring home that turkey!'”

And win he did. For several years, that golden bird was his. “Every year, I won,” he says with a chuckle. “Otherwise, we would’ve never eaten.”

So as a little boy he’d come home from the boxing show proudly lugging home his first-place prize–the large fowl. “I’d come up the driveway carrying it over my shoulder, like a gym bag!”

That was then. Now flash forward to present times. For the last 13 years, De La Torre has served as Head Trainer at the well-regarded Villa Parke Community Center, coaching both amateurs and pros, and also works with MMA fighters at the Fight Academy in Pasadena.

And he has kept a very busy schedule, with this month giving him two of his biggest career highlights ever.

The first moment came at the recent Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones press conference in L.A. I was surprised to see Fausto decked out in black-and-white referee zebra stripes. He was chosen to be the official “timekeeper” at the debate-style media event.

He did a bang-up job timing the bell to punctuate the boxers’ question and answer session. “I was honored that Golden Boy asked me,” De La Torre tells me. “They needed someone and my name was suggested.

“The guys had two minutes to answer before I’d ring the bell. I had a blast. It was an honor, a pleasure to be with these two legends, these two great fighters. It was a highlight of my career.”

What is the “timekeeper’s” prediction for their April clash? “Hopkins has the will and the desire. Age has nothing to do with it,” he comments. “But Jones may have slowed down at bit. I really like both of them but I’d say Hopkins by a KO.”

The day after this press conference, he then headed south to Pechanga for the weigh-in with his charge, new pro fighter Eder Peralta. His super bantamweight would go on to win his Friday night fight in a convincing fashion by way of knockout at 2:22 of the opening round.

“He caught a couple of uppercuts but kept his composure,” the coach remembers. “Eder fought a local Golden Gloves champ who was tall and lanky. But then Eder caught him with a beautiful left hook, and he couldn’t get back up. It was a great knockout, he was sharp and he looked good. He was hyped. It was the best fight of the night!”

His young protégé will be fighting again in April and his proud trainer lists, “Eder’s a pretty fighter–he pivots, has angles, and is a colorful skilled fighter. He’s made for it.”

Fausto and Eder have forged a close father-son relationship, one that De La Torre is happy to be able to provide.

“Eder’s life was saved by boxing too,” states his coach, who is inspired by the slugger. “He overdosed two times (cocaine and crystal meth) in one week.

“He was truly set up for failure–with 99% of his life destined to fail. We changed that.”

He met Peralta at a continuation school, one just like he had attended as a lost youth himself. Now Fausto, who’s dedicated 26 years in the sport, takes pride in being a father figure to the young boxer, something he desperately needed as a teen.

Again, he found that through boxing.

“I never had a male role model, a father figure. My mom was 15, my dad was 16 when they got married,” says De La Torre. “I lost my dad when he was only 27. I didn’t have any male uncles, cousins that stepped forward. I would get my Mom flowers on Father’s Day, I still do.”

Enter coach Eddie Johnson. “Eddie Johnson was my trainer. Eddie was all I had,” he reminisces about his beloved coach. “He paid for food if I was hungry, he paid for my (boxing) license, he paid for everything.

“He was a father figure who saved my life. He taught me so much and I trusted him.”

A fixture in the SoCal amateur boxing scene, Fausto shared some memories of their times together–and of one world-famous icon he fought.

“It was 1986, I was 12 years old and 80 pounds and I fought Oscar De La Hoya,” he says with a chuckle. “We fought in the Junior Olympics in Westminster.”

I wait to hear the result. “I don’t remember,” laughs Fausto, who faced almost 200 boxers during his youthful career. “Back then, we were kids. Oscar was just another amateur guy.”

More recollections come forward. “I also sparred with Shane Mosley,” says the jovial trainer. Mosley’s early years were spent at Villa Parke. “I’ve stayed in touch with Jack Mosley; Shane Jr. comes into spar too.”

And he’s loyal to his boyhood opponents. “I’m 100% sure that Shane is gonna kick his butt,” he affirms in regards to “Sugar’s” upcoming bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. “Shane told me so. He said, ‘I’m gonna show everyone. I’m gonna do it for everyone!'”

Back as an amateur boxer, Fausto would fight in over 180 bouts and was planning on going pro.

But again, fate intervened and De La Torre would never make his pro debut.

“I was getting ready to turn pro and was getting my license,” he recounts. “Then Eddie got sick.

“As Eddie got older, he would ask me to hold the pads for the kids and I volunteered. He had a stroke; then he was ill with emphysema and passed away. When he passed away, they offered me the job as head trainer. So it was a tough career decision but I’ve been a coach ever since. I guess it was my calling.”

This full-time job provided him with a steady paycheck and through saving and scrimping, he was able to buy his own home at just 23. And for the past decade and a half, Fausto De La Torre has immersed himself in the role of coach, mentor, father figure to countless individuals who need guidance just like he did as a aimless youngster.

“Boxing nurtured me. It was a safe harbor,” he says. “I was drawn back into the gym where I got respect–and they became my family too.” The coach also credits two fellow trainers who were huge mentors to him. “Ben Lira and Victor Valenzuela have always been there for me. I still look to them for advice.

“Now I get to keep this tradition alive and work with at-risk youth to keep them out of trouble. I can share what I went through with other kids.”

Fausto elaborates on working with kids, “We teach and implement the discipline of boxing so they can use it in every day life through hard work, dedication and character.” His Villa Parke Pasadena Boxing Club has both girls and boys, from ages eight and up. And his gym has been packed with talented prospects. “This year, we have 11 boxers going to the Golden Gloves!” he replies when I inquire about future plans. “And we’ll be hosting our own show here on May 1.”

The talk then returns to his promising pro, Eder Peralta, who he’s been working with for four years. “If that’s all that I ever did in my career–to save one kid–then I would be happy and proud.”

But the good-natured former boxer and current trainer has touched many kids’ lives. Some of the kids in his boxing club have not just completed high school, but have gone on to college and have enlisted in the military as well. Things that are not taken for granted when the majority of the youth in the area get sucked into gangs, drugs, and a life of crime.

I ask him if he thinks Eder, now 24, would ever return to the street life?

“No, I don’t think it would happen,” he answers after a thoughtful pause. “To go back to that way of life? No, nothing would make him go back now that he’s lived this way of life.”

And just like Eddie Johnson, who believed 100% in a young Fausto, the older and wiser Fausto also believes wholeheartedly in his boxer Eder, who in his twenties, is already mentoring the younger pugs in the gym.

“He’s very encouraging to the other boxers,” notices De La Torre. “He’s really a role model now for the kids; they all look up to him!

“Maybe Eder will even take over for me someday…” adds the coach, who always keeps an optimistic attitude.

Even though Fausto is just in his mid-thirties, he has seen a lot in his life and is at peace knowing his life in boxing has already come full circle.

“Now I am lacking nothing,” says the humble man. He does not lead an extravagant life and is content that his basic needs are provided not only for him, but also for his wife of 15 years and their two children, ages three and eight. “I get a paycheck every two weeks; nothing’s lacking,” De La Torre says with gratitude. “My kids are happy, I love my wife. God has provided all my needs.”

I don’t need to ask him how his Thanksgiving meals are now. I don’t think he has to worry about providing a feast for his family.

As we finish up our conversation, Fausto suddenly jumps in with such an emphasis that it startles me. “Oh, one more thing!” he exclaims.

“Sure, what is it?” I answer with a bit of curiosity, expecting him to remind me about an upcoming show or Eder’s next bout.

“I just wanted to say thank you for telling my story,” he says with such sincerity and heartfelt emotion that for a minute I’m taken aback. “I am so grateful and appreciative to reflect on all this,” he continues. “In later years, I will remember the man I was. Thank you for being part of this legacy–to help other kids.”

Thank you, Fausto, for dedicating your life to boxing and helping others.

Photos by Big Joe Miranda/BigJoesPics.com, Michele Chong and Steve Harpst: Trainer Fausto De La Torre; Fighter Eder Peralta