From the streets to the ring

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Luis Torres' neighborhood boxing gym is like his second home. 

He goes there often - five days a week for at least two hours each time. With an intense workout, he conditions his body with crunches, dumbbell lifts and push-ups. At the end he spars with his coach or one of the other boxers.

Today, he’s fighting in the ring, but Luis spent most of his teenage years fighting in the streets and getting into all kinds of trouble. At the age of 17, he has been in jail four times.

According to Luis, the first three times were for residential burglary and the last time for attempted residential burglary.

“It was fast money - a lot of money," Luis says. "I made like $900 in one house or more in one day, that’s just one day. We’d go hit like three, four houses."

At a shopping plaza near his house, Luis passes by a place he knows all too well: Pasadena City Hall. 

"That’s where I go to court at," Luis says. "I’ve been here at this court every month since I think ‘08. I know every floor on this courthouse, everything."

His two daughters motivated him to change his life. 

“I don’t want to be a deadbeat dad to them," Luis says. "I’m not trying to be in jail for the rest of my life."

The 17 year-old lights up when he talks about his children. Kayla is two and Coraline is seven months old. 

He has a large, elaborate tattoo of Kayla’s name in cursive on his left arm. He says it’s a symbol of the permanent effect his children have had on him. For him, boxing is not only a passion but also an opportunity to provide for his family.

“Boxers make good money when they first start coming up. So I’m gonna need that couple million,” he says with a smile.

Luis’s coach Fausto De La Torre, say the young man has a real gift.

“It takes a special kind of person to get hit and continue, stay in here and keep coming," Torre says. "Out of maybe 100, you get two guys. And he’s that one, he meets that percentage."

“I like to go in and get hit," Luis says. "When I get hit, it just like turns me on. It just snaps, something snaps in my head to protect yourself."

When he’s boxing, Luis is intensely focused. He’s completely present in the moment. But thinking about what the future holds is more difficult.

“I don’t really think about the future, I just let it go by," he says. "Like the days, I just let them go by. I don’t try to think too much.  I be getting frustrated - man, I ain’t got no job. What am I gonna do? I gotta pay rent. So I don’t be trying to think that much."

School has been another source of stress for Luis.

“School doesn’t interest me like at all," he says. "I don’t have favorite subjects or anything like that. I just go to school because I'm trying to finish school. I’m just trying to get a job and stuff."

With five more months of school left, Luis is pushing through to get his diploma. After that, he’s not sure what comes next. 

For practicality, he’s considering plumbing as a back-up career. But he worries he might get too bored. Instead Luis might take drawing classes. He likes to doodle designs in his notebooks but doubts his artistic talent.

For now, he just wants to keep fighting - for his passion, for his kids, for the victory itself.