This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Boxing has never just been about throwing punches for Daysi Garcia.

“When people say boxing saves lives, we don’t mean that superficially,” Garcia said, a Pico Union native and boxing coach at gang intervention programs across Los Angeles. “We literally see boxing save people’s lives.”

That belief has become visible in young people like Elijah Rivera. The teen’s father Daniel Lopez said his son was able to avoid returning to juvenile hall after Garcia advocated for him in court and connected him to her boxing program.

“She showed up on his behalf as a third-party program,” Lopez said. “That ultimately helped him with his case. She really does dive deep into these kids and gets real personal with them. She cares about all aspects of their lives. It’s not just in boxing.”

Lopez said his son, now 17, was able to complete probation while participating in the program.

“It was a real good diversion for him to be able to focus on boxing instead of the streets,” Lopez said. “He was able to ultimately turn his life around.”

For Garcia, stories like Elijah’s reflect the kind of impact she hoped she could have through boxing. Over the last several years, Garcia has helped young people across Lincoln Heights and Echo Park build confidence through boxing and mentorship in gang intervention programs. And now she’s also back in Pico Union coaching at the Graff Lab, in the same gym where she once trained herself.

“If my neighborhood didn’t invest in me, I wouldn’t be who I am today,” Garcia said. “So being able to pay it forward is a big deal for me.”

The 35-year-old started the program because she saw firsthand the impact boxing had on her own life.

Born and raised in Pico Union to Mexican immigrant parents, Garcia said she first discovered boxing around age 20 through a gang intervention program connected to the University of Southern California boxing team. At the time, she said she was struggling to find direction in her life.

“It worked for me,” Garcia said. “Training in a neighborhood gym alongside collegiate boxers helped put me on a pathway back to college.”

Six months later, Garcia said she found herself in college. She eventually earned a bachelor’s degree from Mount Saint Mary’s University and years later enrolled at Southwestern Law School, where she completed her first year of law school before taking time off during the pandemic.

It was during that break that Garcia began working at PUC Excel Charter Academy, a charter school in Lincoln Heights, where students were barred from playing traditional sports because of COVID-19 restrictions. Garcia proposed creating a boxing fundamentals program as a way to keep students engaged after school and off the streets.

Within the first week, between 20 and 30 students signed up.

“Five, six years later, those students are still with me training,” Garcia said.

Garcia first launched the boxing program in Lincoln Heights during the height of the pandemic. The program later expanded to El Centro del Pueblo in Echo Park and eventually it will also be held at the Graff Lab in Pico Union. 

For Silvia Martinez, an 18-year-old immigrant from Michoacán, Mexico, joining the boxing program in Echo Park was a way to build discipline.

“I’m working on that because in the future I want to go into the army,” Martinez said in Spanish. “The first few times I started boxing, I was scared of getting hit, but now it feels normal to me. I like it because Daysi and the other coaches make you feel safe and supported.”

Garcia’s programs now offer mentorship, literacy support through a boxing-themed book club, court support for young people involved in the juvenile justice system, college guidance, emotional support and conversations around the school-to-prison pipeline and students’ rights.

Garcia said she and members of the boxing team often show up to court hearings to advocate for students like Rivera and demonstrate to judges that they have community support systems behind them.

“I started my boxing program to help students get off the streets and get students out of juvenile hall,” Garcia said. “I really want to finish my law degree because I’m passionate about juvenile justice.”

Garcia was recognized for her work this week at Los Angeles City Hall by Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, an honor she said felt emotional because many of her students were standing beside her during the recognition.

“When people celebrate me, it’s not just me,” Garcia said. “I want my students to know they deserve to be celebrated this way too.”

Garcia also played a role in the creation of the inaugural World Boxing Council collegiate amateur belt with the USC boxing team. Now collegiate boxers can compete for a WBC-recognized title. Garcia also said students in the program have received scholarships through the Los Angeles Collegiate Boxing Scholarship initiative she created.

For grandparents like Marcela Sanchez, even though her grandchildren aren’t competing in boxing, she’s also seen how the program has affected them positively. 

Sanchez said she saw changes in two of her grandchildren after they joined Garcia’s boxing classes and other youth activities connected to the program, including art, sewing and tutoring programs.

“They talk more, they understand more, they listen more. Their behavior is way different now from the beginning,” Sanchez said.

Garcia said one of the biggest misconceptions about her work is that the hardest part is dealing with students or the courts. In reality, she said, the biggest challenges are often securing funding, transportation and safe spaces for youth.

Still, Garcia said she continues to push students with a disciplined but trauma-informed coaching style that she believes helps them build resilience.

“We’re all in this together, we want to see our students succeed,” she said. “And we want to see more boxing gyms in L.A.”

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