By Thomas Gerbasi
Joe Pastore never left boxing. He still held on, refusing to leave a mistress that treated him poorly. And while he wasn’t satisfied, he was at least content, working with former world champion Kermit Cintron, a fighter whose acrimonious first split with Pastore let the Pennsylvanian know that boxing at the top level of the game wasn’t anything like he once pictured it to be.
His guard was up these days, though, at least until he saw a pair of teenagers hitting the heavy bag at the East Reading Boxing Club. Pastore pulled the owner of the gym, Andres Acuna, to the side and asked about David Stevens and Xavian Ramirez.
Stevens was 23-2 as an amateur and Ramirez was 36-4. Pastore was intrigued.
“They did things naturally that I personally like to see and I recognize,” he said. “Their punch mechanics were really good, their balance was really good, and they had a good interpretation of distance. They just stood out to me.”
Acuna, whose involvement with the gym was primarily to get kids off the street and involved in something positive, wasn’t a trainer with a track record, nor was he interested in becoming one.
“He (Acuna) had no boxing experience whatsoever, he never fought, was never a trainer, but he opened the gym because he loved the sport and wanted to help kids,” Pastore said. “He got those kids to where they were based on hard work and getting them in great shape. That was a further indicator that these two had a natural aptitude for the sport.”
Pastore was about to go back down the rabbit hole that was boxing. Not halfway. All-in.
“I guess I’m chasing the dream that we’re all chasing, everybody that’s involved in this sport,” he said. “We want to get there and succeed at the highest level.”
That first meeting between the trio was four years ago. Today, Stevens is 17, Ramirez is 16, and the duo have won, according to Pastore, 20 national tournaments. In February 2018, he plans to turn both pro, and they’re ready for the next step.
“I’m excited for it and ready for it,” said Ramirez. “I see myself being a world champion, the best out there.”
“I’m next in line,” adds Stevens. “I just have to prove myself.”
They’re quiet in the way teenagers are when placed in an interview situation, but they’re as typical of their age group as they should be. It’s summer and they would like to be out with their friends, but there’s work to be done so that one day, they will live a life few can.
“You’ve got to constantly remind yourself about that,” said Stevens. “It’s hard sometimes, but once I’m boxing, I forget about it.”
“You’ve got to come to the gym every day,” Ramirez said. “To me, the gym is a fun activity to do and all my friends are at the gym too. They’re all like my family, it’s like home.”
Pastore, not one to dole out praise lightly, does so regularly when it comes to Stevens and Ramirez. He saw something in both fighters years ago and he’s only more confident that they will make an impact in the sport that won’t just shake up the game, but give them a better life. And when it comes down to it, that’s the biggest goal for Pastore, who saw a lot of himself in his two phenoms.
“They come from very difficult family backgrounds and childhoods, and I grew up under similar circumstances,” he said. “Unfortunately, I never had somebody that came along and took an interest in me. And I would like to be that for these kids. I’d like to show them what they can accomplish when someone believes in them and show them that there’s people out there who value them and that if they work hard, there’s a future out there for them beyond just getting a job and working a 9 to 5 every day. I like the idea of being successful, of course, but it’s important for me to impact the lives of kids who had a rough life. That’s a reward in and of itself.”
Boxing will harden the most optimistic soul. But is the opposite happening to Pastore? Is he mellowing as the years go on?
“I got engaged,” he laughs, crediting his lady for a lot of what’s going right with his life these days.
But the 800-pound gorilla in the room remains. In a sport where young kids often go off the rails, listen to the wrong people and leave those who got them to the dance, is Pastore concerned that once the world gets a look at Stevens and Ramirez and starts to move in, he will suffer the same fate as he did when Cintron split from him and Marshall Kauffman?
“So far no red flags,” he said. “I know that anything can happen, but the only way we’re guaranteed to fail is if you don’t try. They’ve given me no reason to question them.
“They show up to the gym six days a week, and with the exception of days we close for a holiday, neither one of them has missed a day in the gym in the four years that we’ve been working together,” Pastore said. “They get good grades in school, and they’ve responded to everything that I’ve tried to teach them, both as young men growing up and as boxers. You could tell that they were two kids looking for somebody to pay attention to them.”
Pastore has been that light for them, and you can hear it in his voice that this isn’t someone about to cash in a lottery ticket. He genuinely cares about his fighters, even if that burned him before. As for the two teenagers who are also getting noticed by fight game insiders, they’re enjoying the attention, but not enough to keep them from their work.
“People always told me that I’ll be special one day,” Ramirez said. “I put that in my head and kept thinking of that and kept working hard.”
“I liked being looked at as a champion,” Stevens added. “It stuck with me, kept me out of trouble and made me more calm. But you’ve got to put the work in the gym. You can’t think you’re too good or get satisfied and start slacking because your opponent’s out there working just as hard as you or harder.”
Ramirez and Stevens have learned the lessons Pastore has taught them. As for the coach, he’s learned enough hard lessons in the fight business to last him a lifetime. But he’s still here anyway.
“The odd thing about boxing is that no matter how much you get screwed over, the right situation presents itself and it always seems to suck you back in.”
