By Zach Smart
Twenty miles from the bandbox boxing gym at Lincolnway
Sports Center in York, Pa., where New Oxford boxer Josue Alfaro infuses Julio
Alvarez’ program with an arsenal of power punches, are wistful reminders of a nightmarish
traffic accident.
On route 94 in Hamilton Township, two miles north of
New Oxford High School, five New Oxford High School students were killed on
Dec.5, 2011.
The victims, in a black Saturn passenger car,
crossed the center line before slamming head-on into a southbound truck. The
truck, carrying an empty horse trailer, collided with the car at the
intersection of 700 Road in Hamilton Township.
The accident occurred around 3 PM. An hour later,
Alfaro was immersed in an intense one-on-one training session with Alvarez at
Lincolnway.
Alvarez, who has nurtured a steady crop of local
talent—West York legend Carney “Beeper” Bowman (16-1), Steve Weimer (9-0), and
Eric Nemo (10-1) to name a few—was imploring Alfaro to shed his habit of
gunning for the head and instead dig into the body.
“You’ve got
to go for the kidney shot, son,” Alvarez said, motioning his hands towards the
kidneys as sweat poured down his prodigy’s face profusely.
“You’re a banger, but you’ve got to work the body.
You’ve got to be a smart, cerebral fighter, and use your power.”
Though only 5-foot-5, Alfaro’s blink-quick jabs,
punching power, and ability to twist and duck out of a punching barrage makes
up for his smurf-small stature.
As Jay-Z’s “Feeling It” blared from the speakers of
a thoroughly dusted boombox near the gym’s entrance, Alfaro continued to execute
power punches.
Suddenly, a loud voice shrieked through the gym. Emanating
from Lincolnway’s gym are the repetitive clang of weights clashing, the constant
pops of punches flying at bags and helmets, and voices that stream from the
ring to the locker room. During this dramatic moment, however, the noise was
suddenly interrupted.
A longtime gym attendant, known as Jerry, lowered
the music and announced to the gym that a car crash had just occurred in New
Oxford.
“There was a huge crash near New Oxford High School!”
Jerry shouted to the busload of high school and college-aged kids.
“It’s not good.
Sounds like a couple of kids were killed. Teenagers. Horrible.”
Alfaro didn’t know what to think or believe. He didn’t
get tangled up in thought. Shy and pin-drop quiet by nature, Alfaro didn’t ask
any questions. He continued his session, figuring he would learn the details
soon enough.
When Alfaro got home and researched the accident on
Google, he received his own punch to the gut. As he scanned an online news
report, he felt himself tremble as he saw the names written across the screen.
A pit slowly developed in his stomach as he re-read the names.
Oscar Banda.
Anthony Campos. Diego Aguilar. Casey Sheridan. Chelsea McFalls.
Aguilar and Campos had grown up with Alfaro. The
friendship tightened when they attended New Oxford High School. Over the
summer, Alfaro would bring his boxing gloves and take turns sparring with
Campos and Aguilar.
“It didn’t
seem real at first,” said Alfaro, who is 12-5 as an amateur. “It was just tough
to understand.”
Having already developed an advanced set of tools
from constant work with Alvarez, Alfaro instilled in his friends the niceties
of boxing. During the summer of 2011, their interest in the sport heightened. The
three would spend hours trading shots, engaging in some consistent sparring
under the boiling sun. Then, the scene would loosen up and laughter would take
over.
It’s the fondest memories Alfaro has of his two close
friends.
It’s been a 15 months since the horrifying accident.
Alfaro’s coping skills have grown at the same pace as his fighting technique.
Though he has mourned the losses, he said a spiritual side has blossomed within
him.
“He obviously took it very hard,” said Alvarez. “Those
were tough times for him. But I think he now looks at life from a different
perspective. He knows there is no telling when you are going to go. You’ve got
to live now and I think he’s embraced that mentality. You live life now.”
Fitting, because now appears to be Josue Alfaro’s
time.
“His punching power is awesome,” Alvarez explained. “He
wants to turn professional as soon as possible. Right now he needs to lose nine
pounds before he fights next weekend.”
Alvarez is referring to the Golden Gloves Central
District tournament at 7 p.m. March 15 at Cross Keyes Motor Inn and Convention
Center in New Oxford.
Just as he did last year, Alfaro will fight to honor
his fallen friends.
Alfaro believes his fallen friends are looking down
on him. He believes the higher power has shown them a new door. He reminds
himself of this every morning before school, as he gazes into a collage of
pictures of all five students. The collage, which Alfaro carefully crafted
together shortly after the accident, sits on the drawer in his bedroom.
“Not one day goes by when he doesn’t think about
it,” says Alvarez. “How can you not?”
A stoic individual who Alvarez said rarely expresses
emotion in or out of the ring, Alfaro said he’s used the losses as motivation.
The
Next In Line
A booming voice echoed across the gym when Alfaro
was training.
“My boy is fighting grown men now. He’s fighting with
the big dogs now!”
It’s Stevie Weimer. The York College senior is 9-0
as a professional and has helped to push Alfaro’s ascent. Weimer, slated to
graduate from York in May, is taking a brief hiatus to finish all of his
credits.
Through sparring and imparting his own wisdom,
Weimer described Alfaro as a boxing old soul.
“There’s no ceiling on this kid’s potential,” Weimer
said.. “I mean out of the young kids here, he’s the one always working and
refining his skills. He’s strictly about business. He keeps his head on
straight, and that’s critical in boxing.
Weimer said the boxing business can be a roller
coaster. But he said Alfaro has a "workmanlike quality and focus about
him."
In Alvarez, Weimer’s words resonate.
“I would say his best attribute is his attitude,”
explained Alvarez. “He’s disciplined, he’s tough, he never questions anything.”
Lincolnway’s gym doubles as a virtual picture
library.
Carney “Beeper” Bowman is the face of the gym. Framed
pictures of Beeper posing with Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, bikini-clad ring
girls, and the rapper Jadakiss adorn the walls.
Pictures of Bowman fighting in rings from Vegas to
Ocean City, Md., to L.A. are penned with the location, the fight, and the date.
Beeper, like Alfaro, is a lightweight who thrives with power and interior
banging.
Growing up in West York, Beeper played basketball,
football, baseball, and ice hockey.
“I tried a bit of everything, but boxing is my
heart,” said Bowman. Bowman’s father, Carney II, was a reputed boxer out of
York High. Being in his father’s corner at an early age, working under Alvarez’
since age 10, and sparring with top-flight professionals such as Mike Garcia (with
whom he lived and trained in Los Angeles), has helped accelerate Bowman’s
production.
“It’s been all guidance,” said Bowman of his father
and Julio’s presence.
Bowman turned professional in 2004, after the
Olympic Trials.
Alvarez says Alfaro has already developed a
professional style.
“He has a lot of natural talent, his style is too
much of a professional style though,” explained Alvarez. “That doesn’t go well
with amateurs, because more punches equals more points. In amateurs it’s all about
how many punches you throw.”
Dad
Knows Best
Jose’s father, Candido Alfaro, said he knew how to
scrap from an early age. Growing up on Mexico City’s mean streets, fighting was
a method of survival and Candido Alfaro was a known street fighter.
Candido did not want his son to live through the
same struggles that he did, surviving in a congested household and earning
street credit to avoid gang violence.
However, he did want Josue to become disciplined and
channel the abundance of energy he noticed in his son from an early age. Karate
was Jose’s first passion. Then, one fall evening in 2007, his whole world
changed.
“My Dad and
I were driving around, talking about a new hobby for me to take up,” the
younger Alfaro said. “I was in karate previously and I wanted to get into
something again. I was always aggressive.
"My Dad
and I drove by a boxing gym, Glory gym in Gettysburg. We got there and as soon
as we arrived, it was closed. I was kind of a shy kid back then. So, I was kind
of glad that it was closed. I figured we would go home and I would never see
that gym again. At that moment, I was actually thinking about joining karate
again and didn’t really want to start something from the very beginning.”
Just as
Candido was ready to drive away, a black pickup truck pulled in. Boxing coach
Joe Lindsay got out. The coach and Alfaro’s father engaged in a brief
conversation, and Josue was sold on the sport.
“If he’d
arrived half a minute later, we would have been gone and I would have never
joined boxing," Josue said. "It was kind a by-chance thing. I went
and made something of it.”
At March 15
at Cross Keyes, with his heart and mind engaged in the fight but also hanging
on to his fallen classmates, Josue Alfaro will make the most of his
opportunity.
“My
technique is to kind of weigh you down,” Alfaro said. “I can take a lot of
punches. I move around a lot but I’ll wear you down.
"My
specialty is my power punches. Once you kind of get worn down, I just get you
in a corner.”
After the
grief he has faced, it's unlikely any opponent will hit him harder than the
cause for which he always fights.