Noel Temores Jr. has always been a passionate athlete, it just took him awhile to find his niche. He tried football and baseball, but didn’t feel he was being challenged enough individually.
But when he put on his pair of boxing gloves, everything changed.
That was seven years ago and the now 15-year-old Temores—who is known as “Rhino” in the boxing community—is establishing himself as one of the next big up-and-comers. The Gilroy native was crowned the California Region 11 Junior Olympics champion in the 138 lb. division in May and took silver at the Junior Olympics National Championship June 14 in Charleston, W. Va.
“That was my first time going to a national tournament,” Temores said. “It was just a whole new experience because we got to see a bunch of different boxers from all these different states. …At first, I was a little daunted by the whole thing. All these other people had been to it before and it was my first time. I hadn’t had that much fights.”
{{tncms-asset app=”editorial” id=”e62c9a24-079b-11e4-ab1a-0017a43b2370″}}
Temores’ opponent had around 100 fights entering JO National finals bout, where he had just 27.
“One of the coaches said it’s the Cinderella story because no one really thought he was going to do what he did,” his father Noel Temores Sr. said.
What he lacked in experience, Noel Jr. made up in talent. He went toe-to-toe with his challenger and, according to his coaches, arguably won the bout.“I saw the film; he won that fight,” Rick Mello, who has coached Noel since he was 8 years old said. “He should have the gold medal, not the silver medal.”
While the loss was hard to swallow, Noel Jr. has put it behind him and continues to work towards his goal of being a professional boxer. He practices with the Christopher cross country team every morning and participates in organized runs with his boxing team like the Bay to Breakers race and the Turkey Trot.
When he’s preparing for a fight, Noel Jr. will be at his gym—Stick and Moving Boxing and Fitness in Gilroy—six days a week. He has also integrated CrossFit into his routine, much like Gilroy’s Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. And like Guerrero, Noel Jr. said he has seen the difference it’s making.
“It’s really helped me in the ring,” he said. “My explosiveness in the ring (has improved) and in keeping up with the other person—even outlasting them—has helped a lot in these last fights.”
{{tncms-asset app=”editorial” id=”da8fa22e-079b-11e4-8374-0017a43b2370″}}
It’s those differences that have helped give Noel Jr. an edge, which is vital given he hasn’t quite hit his growth spurt yet. Sharon Temores said that her son tends to be shorter than his opponents, but he’s learned to hold his own.“It seems like he does even better,” she said. “Before it was a little more difficult, it was like ‘Oh man, that kid is huge.’ Now it’s like we want the huge ones because he knows how to get on the inside and fight really good.”
Noel Jr. has also dealt with several injuries— like a broken nose, injured shoulder and elbow just to name a few—which have prevented him from fighting as much as he wanted to. But he continued to train through the pain, making him a more versatile fighter in the end.
“Once I hurt my left shoulder, I kept on going to the gym (and) I kept on using my right hand,” Noel Jr. said. “I even switched stances just to keep jabbing with my right hand. It helped me learn another stance which I’ve used on people in the ring. By switching up stances it gives me a lot of leverage on the other person—it confuses them.”
Noel Jr. will soon be faced with the decision of training to be an Olympic boxer—which he can compete in when he’s 22—or to go professional, but he can’t do both. The desire to go pro is one thing, but having the drive and the heart to do so is another story said Roy Ramon, one of Noel Jr.’s coaches.
“You’ve got to have the heart for boxing and obviously he has it,” Ramon said. “We can’t show him how to have heart—he’s got to have that on his own. Boxing we can show him, but the heart he does have.”
{{tncms-asset app=”editorial” id=”f2717f16-079b-11e4-a09b-0017a43b2370″}}
But for now, Noel Jr. need only focus on his next tournament. He will compete at the 2014 Junior Golden Gloves July 16-19 in Mesquite, Nev. And if he reaches the finals, there’s a good chance for a rematch with his opponent from the JO National Championships.
“I’m just really proud; it’s been a long road,” Sharon said while fighting back tears. “I’m glad he finally gets his dues. …There’s been times where I’m like ‘Dang, he lost that fight.’ But there’s times were we really thought he won. It’s nice that he’s finally getting what he deserves.”
One of the coaches said it’s the Cinderella story because no one really thought he was going to do what he did.”
