Brains match brawn of 9-year-old boxing champ from Ceres

“It sounds kind of funny to say, but he’s like a freak of nature, really strong for a 9-year-old kid,” Salvation Army Red Shield coach Juan Barrera says of boxer Andre Flores.

No question the kid’s strong, and talented. Last month at the USA Amateur Boxing’s Western Regionals in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Andre (14-0) won a “hard-fought battle” against Chula Vista boxer Gracen Hoopli in the in 65-pound Pee Wee Championship bout, according to Sportofboxing.com.

In February, the La Rosa Elementary School fourth-grader dominated Lundy Webster of Ohio to win the 65-pound crown at the 50th annual Silver Gloves National Championships in Independence, Missouri.

And in June, he’s to fight at both the Title Boxing National Championship in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and the Junior Olympic National Championships in Charleston, West Virginia.

But Andre and those around him see him coming out of the ring with more than championship trophies, belts and jackets.

“He has really good work habits, and those work habits are going to go with him a long way not just in the field of boxing but life in general,” Barrera says. “... One day, he’s going to pursue a job or a career, he’s going to go to a job interview, face that employer, give him that handshake and direct contact, and he’ll claim that job before he even has it.”

“When you meet Andre, the thing that stands out is just his politeness and his great attitude,” says Salvation Army Lt. Quinton Markham, corps officer at the Red Shield Center. “He goes out of his way to express his appreciation to The Salvation Army and the Red Shield and ... the opportunities the boxing program give him.

“When he came back from winning the national championship in Independence, he came in to see me and said, ‘Thank you for letting me represent the Red Shield,’ and he even gave me an autograph, which was kind of cool.”

Andre, who’s made the honor roll at school, says he’s learned discipline and focus from his training. “You got to pay attention,” he says. “When you’re boxing, you can’t mess around because you can get hurt.”

Throwing punches within the rules of the sport and while wearing the proper equipment also gives him a safe way to release some of the frustration and aggression the can come with being a growing boy.

Whereas he and big brother Damian once were bullied and got in fights at their school in Merced, now “when I’m at school, I get along with everyone. They’re nice to me, I’m nice to them,” Andre says of his classmates at La Rosa in Ceres. “My coaches always tell me, keep it in the ring, don’t do it anywhere else.”

Bullying is a big part of the reason Andre and Damian, who also boxes, got into the sport. That and it runs in the family. It’s “in our blood,” says Andre, whose great-grandfather was a pro boxer and whose cousin is now.

Damian, regularly being called “the n-word” and other racial slurs at school – as early as kindergarten and first grade – was timid and scared, says the boys’ father, also named Damian Flores.

“I tried to teach Damian to basically defend himself, and as I was teaching him, of course he (gesturing to Andre) was there and started learning, too,” says Flores, whose grandfather is Louis Jordan, former pro boxer and longtime coach of the Stanislaus County Police Activities League’s boxing program.

At age 3, Andre was learning basic one-twos and using the jab a lot, his dad says. He started occasional training at the Red Shield when he was 5.

When the boys moved from their Merced school to La Rosa, Andre carried anger issues from the racism and bullying, Flores says. He and the boys’ mom, Andrea Perkins, are thankful to the school for a counselor meeting regularly with Andre to help him learn to channel his anger, he says.

Even the principal sat down with Andre, Flores says, to say, “Wouldn’t it be embarrassing for you to get in trouble for fighting when you’ve got a large support group of people helping you get where you want to go in life?”

That support from educators, the Red Shield, family and other loved ones has helped Andre stays grounded and disciplined, his dad says. “He knows the significance of what he can do and I’ve explained to him he can hurt people. ... When you fight, you fight in the ring. When somebody mouths off to you, you walk away, you have a lot more at stake than the person mouthing off to you. You got people that support you.”

Andre is a four-sport athlete: boxing, basketball, baseball and football. He and his dad agree that there will come a time not far off that he’ll want to focus on just one, and Andre says it will either be football or boxing.

In the ring, Andre is all business, Flores says. “He doesn’t worry, doesn’t panic, just goes in there and does what he’s supposed to do and that’s it. ... I’m the one nervous.”

“When my brother’s fighting, I’m nervous for him,” Andre adds.

Asked what it’s like to get socked in the face, the pugilist thinks for a moment and then says simply, “Some of the kids really don’t hit that hard.”

And when one does, you roll with the punches, as the saying goes. “If you go like this,” Andre says, staggering backward, “then they have a chance to get on you so you won’t be able to do anything else. So you kind of just take it and come back in.”

Spoken like a champ.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 8:51 AM with the headline "Brains match brawn of 9-year-old boxing champ from Ceres."