JOHN BRAY’S BOXING GYM PROFILE

John Bray: Giving Back to Boxing

Boxing Trainer John Bray is right at home in his new San Fernando gym and grateful to be working with new talent with the hope of someday producing the kind of world champion he could never muster up the focus to be himself. Through a fantastic career as a young prospect, Bray always had the talent, but he admitted that the drive just wasn’t there to go all the way with it. Now he is fully committed to making sure the next generation of new recruits has an easier time learning all the lessons he had to figure out the hard way.

Partnered with Promoter Manny Cota, Businessman Sam Larios, and Promotions Coordinator Manny Rabago, Bray jumped at the opportunity to take charge of the gym as head trainer. Already the buzz is spreading and everyone from aspiring amateurs to seasoned professionals are working out there.

“I’m in it right now as we speak,” said Bray in a recent phone interview. “It’s a beautiful gym. I started out making a partnership with Manny Cota, the boxing promoter. It’s just beautiful here. We got 9 heavy bags, 6 double-end bags, 4 speed bags, a ring, a weight room, and an office. Sam Larios, who is a San Fernando businessman, owns the building, and he’s a huge boxing fan.”

It was only a few days after the gym opened, and Bray was ecstatic. “I can’t ask for anything better, and a lot of these guys here now are a little better than I expected. We have a schedule that gives some of our pro guys who want privacy a little more exclusive arrangement to work out. It’s set up so they have private time each day, and then it opens up to the public all night,” he said. “It’s the third day, and it’s been packed. I been here since 7 in the morning, and I been here doing 13 hour days. It doesn’t feel like work, though. I’ve been boxing since I was 7. I grew up around this stuff, and I love it.”

Bray was a product of the 80s when boxing experienced unprecedented exposure and attention. The sport was also peppered with some amazing characters at the time. Bray was able to work with some of the best in the business.

“My next door neighbor was a guy named Larry Lloyd. His cousin was Louis Lloyd, and he fought Hector Camacho back in the early 80s. He worked in a gym in Van Nuys named Goodman’s Gym. They had a guy there named Mike Solis out of Franklin Park, and he went to the Junior Olympics at 16,” Bray explained about how he wound up getting involved in boxing. “Shelly Finkel and Lou Duva were working with him, and I started working with them. I was a sparring partner for Evander Holyfield, and my amateur career really blossomed. I went on in ‘88 to lose a split-decision to Tommy Morrisson.”

Bray points back to his spectacular amateur career to select his greatest personal accomplishment in the sport. “I would have to say winning the 1989 US Olympic Sports Festival title,” he said. “I felt so patriotic. It was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and it’s just a beautiful city. There were all great people out there cheering me on in the crowd, and I felt so proud to be an American. It was so Olympic-like with the medal and the torch, and the whole thing was beautiful. I always loved representing the U.S.”

The early 90s proved to be a tough period for Bray. He participated in the box-offs for the Olympic trials, but things didn’t work out for him to be included in the 1992 games. “I started wandering off, not taking care of myself, and I just fell apart,” he said. “Angelo Dundee then picked me up, and I turned pro, moved to Miami, and he really helped me out. I was a hard headed kid, and I didn’t want to listen, but Angelo gave me the best advice on how to live and train. Angelo sees me now on TV sometimes working with guys, and he tells me, ‘Oh kid, it’s great to see you got it together and you’re doing really well.’ I’ve been on road trips and worked opposite of Angelo and Lou Duva. They’re both legends and great guys.”

Bray is completely committed to helping other kids just like Dundee helped him. “I grew up in the game, and I plan on spending the rest of my life in the game,” he promised.

The John Bray Boxing Club will be his legacy. Located in the city of San Fernando, the gym is in an ideal spot to attract kids who could use a place to go to get off the streets. “We’re in a great area, and immediately we saw a lot of interest,” said Bray. “All the kids in the neighborhood saw the banner go up when we opened, and we’ve just had a stream of kids coming in. That’s not only good for me, it’s good for boxing, and it’s good for the community. It helps get kids off the street, and maybe one of these kids will develop into the next De La Hoya. It’s the gyms in the barrios and ghettos, that’s where the superstars come from, and I’m hoping something like that happens for us.”

With only about 3 or 4 amateur gyms in the vicinity, Joe Goosen’s gym is the only other really major gym Bray will have to compete with. “It’s gonna take time, but we’re gonna do it,” he said. “We’re twice the size of Joe’s now, and we just have to attract fighters and bring ‘em in here.”

Boxing has plenty of ailments holding the sport back from living up to its potential, but Bray’s perspective as a former fighter is certainly beneficial. “There’s not enough teachers. How many ex fighters become trainers? The ones that do end up at the top in the business, because they know what they’re teaching,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have 136 amateur fights. My record was 124-12. From 1987 to 1992 I was on the national team. I had 20 pro fights and went 15-3-2. I worked in camps with Mike McCallum, Evander Holyfield, and Mike Tyson. I learned a lot.”

Bray is also aware of the influx of MMA and the need for boxing to learn some lessons from that sport. “Boxing is dying, and I saw that when I worked with the IFL and went to an event to wrap hands,” he said. “I saw how much organization those people have, and I saw the crowds. I thought to myself, no wonder it’s kicking boxing’s butt. The boxing managers and promoters have a lesson to learn. Hopefully I’ll be one of the guys to shake it up.”

He remains devoted to sharing his expertise and knowledge with all those youngsters out there just as anxious as he once was—kids who just need some guidance and a push in the right direction to become great champions someday. “I didn’t take my pro career seriously,” he confessed. “I thought I was on vacation. When I finally woke up, it was too late. It’s not too late for me to teach kids and let them learn from my mistakes. That’s what I plan on doing.”

Above all the moments of glory he’s experienced over the years, he ranks the fostering of lasting friendships as his favorite aspect of the sport. “Just the whole brotherhood of being in the gym and being part of that boxing brotherhood,” he said about what he loves most about boxing. “I just enjoy working with guys and seeing guys grow as fighters and as people. It’s like going to college and having a roommate, but it lasts a lot longer than four or eight years. I was always meeting guys in Duva’s camp, and over the years I’ve been bumping into them, and we always stop and say, ‘Hey, how ya’ doing?’ It’s a hard sport, a hard lifestyle. You make a lot of connections among fighters. You can sympathize, empathize, and relate to one another, and we all think the same. It doesn’t matter what color you are or what religion you are. All that b/s goes out the window. We’re fighters, and I love being part of that brotherhood.”

Bray eventually wants to get to a point in his career where his adversaries actually get bent out of shape when they find out he’s working in the opponent’s corner. “My ultimate goal is to be a dominant trainer,” he said. “I want to be so well known that the other trainer in the ring gets nervous when he sees me across the ring and says, ‘Uh oh, that kid’s being trained by John Bray.’ I’d just like to have the level of respect of guys like Dundee and Duva, and if I can have a fraction of their success, I’ve succeeded. If I can impact kids’ lives the way Duva and Dundee impacted my life, then I did it.”

Bray certainly has the right philosophy and work ethic to attain that status as a premiere trainer. “I’m doing all the extra things, and I’m gonna put in the extra time,” he said. “I work from 7 in the morning until 9, 10, or 11 o’clock, until the last kid in the gym is done doing my regimen, it’s a priority. I believe in counter-punching, whether passive or aggressive, I believe in counter-punching, and I teach my fighters to hit and don’t get hit.”

Bray is currently working with a host of amateurs and about 6 or 7 different professional fighters in his camp. “Guys fly in from out of town to work with me a few weeks before they fight,” he explained. “As far as amateurs, there’s at least 20 in here today. Robert Herrera is our key amateur guy. He’s a 16-year-old PAL National Champion, and he’s making the move up to the seniors now, He’s got a bye straight to the finals, and he’s looking great. He’s a heavyweight, and right now he weighs about 190. Then there’s Miguel Espino from the first Contender. We’re working with him, and Robert is learning a ton with Miguel. We got high hopes for Herrera. He’s 6 feet tall, in good shape, and he’s totally committed and dedicated. It’s his life.”

As far as elevating other young prospects to champion status, he knows he can help, but he also realizes a lot depends on the particular fighter. “I think I’ve proven I can get a fighter past the finish line,” he said. “I’ve worked with World Champ Robert Guerrero and helped him get where he is. They just have to make the commitment.”

What really shines about Bray is that he’s not just out to improve the boxing skills of the kids he works with. For him, it goes beyond the ring and the gym. “You know what, the greatest accomplishment in boxing I’ve had as a trainer had nothing to do with competition. Trainers have to be teachers and mentors, and I had a kid hooked on dope once: Crystal Meth,” he explained. “I’d talk to this kid every day until he kicked it. Now he’s working hard, he’s got a great job, and the kid’s been coming to the gym every day. He’s been clean and sober for four years and he’s in the Teamsters Union as a carpenter. That was my proudest moment, helping that guy out. He made a huge turnaround, and now he’s a guy who goes to church every Sunday, holds down a 9 to 5, and has his own place. That’s my greatest accomplishment.”

Bray’s short-term goal now is to help get Miguel Espino a world title. “I’ve been with Miguel for 7 years, and he’s worked real hard through lots of manager problems, but now that he’s been relieved of all that, he’s working with Manny Cota,” said Bray. “That gives me a really good feeling that Miguel’s gonna do something really big this year and next year.”

The bottom line for Bray is that he can only move forward. He simply can’t go back and change his own past, but he can make sure the next kid with talent doesn’t let it slip away. “I’m doing everything I didn’t do as a fighter,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing as a trainer. I’m trying to make up for what I didn’t do and trying to give back to boxing what they tried to give me. Everyone in the community was helping me, but I wasn’t focused. Hopefully kids will be able to learn from that and I’ll be able to give something back to the sport and back to the community.”

Manny Cota, the Promoter of Cota’s Boxing Promotions, Inc., also took a moment to talk about the new gym. “Me and John met about 2 or 3 years ago,” said Cota. “I started helping Miguel, one of our fighters, and I had a boxing gym, too, but it closed down. I ended up meeting Sam Larios, the owner of the new gym, and the three of us partnered up. John works as head trainer with the fighters there, and I promote.”

Cota is excited about the prospects of the new enterprise. “It’s going well, and we’re up and running going into the second week, and we got over 35 kids already,” he said. “We’re on a main street, and I think it’s gonna turn out really good.”

As far as how he wound up involved in the sport, it’s sort of a family business for Cota. “I was pretty much born with it, and my dad was a fighter from Tijuana, Mexico,” he said. “I grew up watching it, and I started at 12 as and amateur. I had four professional fights, and then I had an accident. I ended up with a detached retina, and I retired. Ten years later I decided to help youngsters meet their dreams and I started promoting.”

Since taking on the new role, he’s never looked back. He still enjoys working out in the gym, and he gets a thrill out of watching other prospects improve. “I just try to help out in any area and do what I can,” he said.

He holds Bray in high regard and mentioned the trainer’s many accolades. “He was on the USA team, he sparred with Evander, Tyson, and he fought Briggs,” said Cota. “He’s a great trainer, and he puts the effort and time into it. He worked with Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero and made him a champion, and now he’s working with Lance Whitaker and Miguel Espino.”

Cota is optimistic about the neighborhood where the gym is located. “The area is really well set, and we’re in like the middle class type of area of the city,” he said. “It’s not very high income. There are a lot of hungry people, hungry kids with dreams. There’s a lot of kids around, and we can probably recruit them and keep them active instead of having them out there causing problems.”

He went on to explain that the gym is open at night for the public, and in the morning it’s open for private training sessions. To conclude the interview he put on his promoter’s hat. “For any professional fighter that needs management or training, they’re more than welcome to come out here,” he said.

Cota’s Promotions Coordinator Manny Rabago helped connect us with Bray and Cota and is also helping out with the gym. Everyone involved is ready to breathe life into a beaten sport by inspiring the next generation to stand up and show their skills. John Bray’s professional approach and unique personal attachment to the sport along with his passion for providing a positive example for youth will give each kid he trains the best chance to persevere and come out on top.