Hosanna Rull | iRull Fotos
Juan Torres , a heavyweight boxer , has claimed championships all over the country on his journey up the ranks . His day job is as an educator at Huntsville Intermediate School where he helps teach the next generation of champions .
With time , he notes that he matured , adding that sports played a significant role in that process . Now ranking in the top 100 professional boxers in the world , Torres ’ first love was football , which set him on a good path . He went on to play college football and was offered professional options overseas , however , he opted to stay close to home and entered the workforce at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice , finding his success in boxing just a few years ago .
As a world-class fighter competing on national and world stages with his matches streamed on major platforms like ESPN , he commands a wealth of respect in the classroom , as living proof to his students that their dreams can still come true , despite the struggles they face in the presejnt .
“ You can tell them that you need to do this , you need to do that , but what I have is that I can relate ,” Torres said . “ I can say , ‘ hey , if this is what you want to do in life , this is what you need to do to get there .’”
“ They get wide-eyed and now they want to listen more to what I have to say , now they take more advice because they see or hear from where I ’ ve been , to where I ’ m going now , and it helps create that trust between them in our relationship ,” Torres said .
Due to his students ’ struggles , it ’ s not uncommon that negative influences elsewhere in the school , at home or in their personal lives try to take advantage of them , however , Torres is protective over his six or seven kids and advises that they are not to be messed with .
He makes himself available to them outside of school hours , taking them to his boxing gym or anywhere they want , just to keep them off of the street and out of trouble . In the case of one student that had but one outfit to wear for over a year , all it took was a shopping trip after a lucrative match for Torres to see the difference in his outlook from acting out the year before , to being confident and at ease in and out of the classroom .
“ Something as simple as putting some nice shoes on him , putting some new clothes on him , made him feel more important ,” Torres said . “ It just made him shine a little bit more and made him want to talk to other kids and things like that .”
Seeing that growth in his students is always a mark of success for Torres , and although it doesn ’ t happen often , eventually seeing that growth lead to each one graduating out of his class and returning to general education is a goal for the boxer .
“ I want to see these kids , the ones that I have especially , grow and be successful in life because life ’ s hard sometimes and there ’ s going to be some challenges and I ’ m just trying to teach them that not every day is going to be great ,” Torres said .
“ It ’ s not always a happy day in there , but we ’ re striving towards greatness . We ’ re going to have bumps on the road , but we ’ re working towards the big goal which is getting out there , behaving and learning ,” Torres said .
HUNTSVILLE LIVING | JULY-AUGUST 2021 | 29