Featherweight prospect Joseph Subia is continuing his father’s boxing legacy, while making his own thanks to social media.
Subia recently signed a managerial agreement with Wise Owl Boxing, founded by Mark Habibi. Wise Owl Boxing is best known for working with Brandon Adams and Charles Conwell.
Subia is 22 years old but didn’t start boxing until he was 17, starting during the COVID-19 pandemic and sticking with it. Subia didn’t have ambitions of being a boxer at first. Instead, he was a notable club soccer player. Now, Subia is a professional with roughly 50 amateur fights and a national title to his name. His pro record is 2-0 (2 KOs) and he was one of Denys Berinchyk’s main sparring partners ahead of his fight against Keyshawn Davis. Still, it is the legacy of his father, Jo Subia, that motivates him.
“He was also an amateur fighter, and he had 20-plus amateur fights, and turned professional,” Subia told BoxingScene of his father and trainer. “The twist with him is right when he turned professional, he had me and my siblings. I feel I have to pick up the torch where he left off,” Subia said. “It gives me a little extra motivation as well.”
Subia has created a strong online presence and he has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok.
Subia’s amateur success, mixed with a notable following, led to him opening The Goat Shack Boxing Club in 2023, in his hometown of Atascadero, California.
“There wasn’t a boxing scene or boxing community,” Subia said. “Within the first year, we turned it into 200-plus members.”
Subia believes that they have roughly doubled that number now. He credits some of the success to a lack of gyms in the area by comparison to being in a big city. As a small-town fighter with big dreams, Subia hopes to steadily improve.
“I would like to try and get by this time next year to be 7-0 or 8-0,” Subia said. “Hopefully, keep climbing the ranks and get some big names soon, but I have to build myself up first to make everybody want to fight me.”