Town Fights
Gopa Boxing Club’s journey towards becoming a pillar in their community.
On Saturday, October 18, 2025, Gopa Boxing Club hosted Town Fights IV, a live amateur boxing event at Life Academy & United for Success. This was the fourth Town Fights event that the Gopa team has organized. The first two were hosted at Gopa Boxing Club on Foothill Blvd but because one of Gopa’s goals is to expand their involvement in the community, they decided to host at the Life Academy & United for Success around the block for the second time.
The event opened their doors at noon and families began to gather as the line formed. Boxers and coaches came in ready for battle with their equipment and a strong sense of determination and excitement filled the air. Whether they had a bout that day or not, boxers of all ages shadowed box alone or with each other. Folks walked around and greeted each other with a fist bump and caught up while waiting in line at one of the food trucks at the event. Amidst it all, you’d occasionally see Coach Alfredo running around from one end to the other — directing, calling, pointing, etc.
The show began with a speech by one of the boxers parents — Sophia’s father. Sophia has been training with Alfredo for about 8 years now and her father is very much involved with Gopa Boxing Club and Sophia’s boxing journey. The speech was short but meaningful:
“Hello everyone, I’m standing here today, filled with gratitude. Gopa Boxing Club wouldn’t be what it is without the incredible support from our community.
You believed in our vision to provide a safe and empowering space for the youth in our neighborhoods. Your encouragement, whether through donations, volunteering time, or simply spreading the word, has made all the difference. It’s because of you that we can offer top notch training, mentorship, and opportunities to young people who dream of a better future.
We’re not just building boxers, were building character, discipline, and resilience. Thank you for being a part of this journey and for investing in the potential of our youth. Together were making a real difference.”
Having opened just 4 years ago, Coach Alfredo and his team are already making noise in the community. Through everything that they do, it is easy to see that Gopa Boxing Club isn’t just a boxing gym that you pay a membership to and show up to train alone — the Gopa team takes you under their wing. They take the kids to go hiking, celebrate members’ birthday’s, and take a step further by incorporating mentorship into their program with a goal setting class. The class is made up of the gym members who are working towards competing. Coach creates an approach unique to each fighter on what is required of them to one day finally step in the ring at a boxing event. A lot more than meets the eye goes into what it takes to box. Amateur boxers work all year long and stay in shape just in case they land a fight. Depending on your weight and age, it can be really difficult to find a match so coaches are constantly looking for boxing events for their fighters. Unlike other sports, boxing matches are not ubiquitous. This is why Town Fights has worked as a source of motivation for a lot of the boxers who train at Gopa. They work hard and stay focused in case they get the opportunity to step into the ring and show off their skills. The average amateur boxer will only have 2 to 6 fights per year so landing a fight at a local event means everything. Winning means the world when you’ve trained all year and losing cuts deep. Losing is heartbreaking but boxing requires a lot from a person. A lot of physical, mental, and spiritual work goes into training.
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Coach Gopa tells his students that the way you approach a fight is the same way you should be approaching life. The skills that students practice at the gym everyday can one day very much be the way they approach hardships in life — allowing them to view adversity as a level to pass instead of a wall they can’t climb. By setting rules for themselves, keeping their word, and showing up everyday, they create a flow state that sets the tone to constantly strive for more. From small practices like staying off phones at the gym and eating healthy to pursuing creative endeavors, and even elevating oneself spiritually and mentally, Coach has high hopes for all of his students, no matter their gender and supports them in whatever way he can.
There are a lot of lessons and hard work that goes into the training provided at Gopa. This is why they have partnered with Oak Zen Dojo to host meditation classes at the gym once a month. As I mentioned earlier, Coach Alfredo’s goal is to bring resilience and ambition into his students’ lives but also balance. Just like the interval timer that echoes through the gym every 3 minutes signaling boxers that it’s time to rest, one must also know when it is time to rest in life.
Gopa Boxing Club is a place for people to get inspired, gain confidence, and develop life long skills. Their goal is to better the neighborhood, keep kids off the streets — given that they are located in the middle of a school zone, and to encourage people to deviate from the standard that society places on working class communities by striving towards excellence in every area in their lives. Coach Gopa says that he practices what he preaches so the Gopa team leads by example. Not only is Alfredo Gopa a boxing coach, he is also a mentor, and has started his own line of boxing gloves – GOPA Gloves.
Gopa Boxing Club is truly an inspiring place to be near and because there are always a lot of moving pieces and work happening at Gopa, this also means there are a lot of helping hands. One of these helping hands includes Uzias Suarez. Uzi is a gym member as well as the gym’s photographer. His photography focuses on capturing a mix of sports and lifestyle photography. He picked up photography a few years back because he wasn’t able to compete in boxing due to his kidney disease. He uses photography as an outlet to boxing and now documents the journey of the Gopa Boxing Club which includes fights, accomplishments, events, brand photos, etc. Gopa is held up by many people including the main team – Founder and Head Coach Alfredo Gopa, Co-Founder Adnan Zaid and Co-Founder/Marketing Manager Jalal Kastelli. Each Co-Founder at the Gopa Boxing Club has a key role. They have a strong team that shares the same vision, principles, and all want to uplift their community. Along with the Co-Founders, there are also his boxers, parents, sponsors, and even former boxers who come back around to become trainers. These past 2 years the Gopa team has been hiring coaches who used to train with Coach Alfredo as kids, Coaches Luis Izazaga, Taylor Benton and Isaac Rosales trained with Alfredo back when they were 10 and 13 years old. Now at 25 years old, they continue to be inspired by Alfredo’s mission. The long term impact that the team has on it’s students is evident and heart-warming. This boxing gym is definitely something to keep an eye on.
Gopa Boxing Club pays homage to the town in every way that they can because without their community, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish as much as they do. This is why Gopa Boxing Club is always looking for new local organizations to work with, sponsors, and volunteers. Thank you to Hasta La Muerte Coffee, Uzi Shot It, Oak Zen Dojo, Life Support Foundation, STB Performance, Golden Era Apparel, Safe Tight Security, Definitive Millwork Installation Inc., Currency Collective, and Fight Threads for helping Town Fights IV happen this weekend and the Gopa team looks forward to continue to work with you in the future. Thank you for helping the kids from the community take one step closer to a brighter future.
