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The Sacramento Bee and Nehemiah Leaders Programs are celebrating this year’s 60 Change Makers. Join them at our gala at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Grand Sheraton in downtown Sacramento. Buy tickets at sacramentochangemakers.com.
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First, it was just an idea in the head of then-professional boxer Brandon “Flawless” Gonzales. He wanted to build a place where Sacramento-area youth could come to box, rather than get into trouble.
Then, it was a shared room with four heavy bags. Next, it was a 2,500 square-foot complex.
Now, Flawless Boxing & Fitness is a nearly 5,000 square-foot gym in Upper Land Park equipped with rows of heavy bags, weightlifting equipment, a ring and wellness hub.
But for Gonzales, the gym has always been about more than boxing. Much of the gym’s income goes toward Flawless 4 Youth, a nonprofit Gonzales created during his career in 2010 to provide scholarships, support and mentorship to local youth through boxing.
“Boxing is the greatest analogy in life,” Gonzales said. “All the skills that the kids learn here, they take outside to their life, they take it into school, they take it into work.”
Flawless has expanded from an organization that only worked with youth to offering classes for beginners and competitive boxers of all ages at its Upper Land Park location, at 600 Broadway, Suite E.
Classes are offered almost every day at the gym. Profits from classes, merchandise and its biannual event “Capital Punishment” are put toward Flawless 4 Youth.
Two of the gym’s current trainers were previously part of the Flawless 4 Youth program, a testament, Gonzales said, to the program’s impact.
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“Boxing is what attracts kids to our gym, families to our gym,” Gonzales said. “We use that as the catalyst and then, once they get here, we can help them with other needs.”
Gonzales said the life skills needed for boxing — like hard work, perseverance and focus — are more important to teach the kids than the boxing itself. Though Gonzales himself had a successful professional career, he said those same skills have been critical to his life after retiring from boxing.
“You can only do this for so long,” Gonzales said of boxing. “It’s a very short window, but then what about life? … You have a lot more time with that.”
Recently, Gonzales has expanded his coaching to college students at Sacramento State, as head boxing coach and a founding member of the school’s Combat U club program.
In two seasons under Gonzales’ leadership, the boxing team has already found success nationally, producing multiple National Champions. Gonzales’ daughter, Ayanha, won a national title last season.
“I’m happy, but I’m not satisfied,” Gonzales said of his work with Combat U. “I’m looking forward to year three coming up.”
While Gonzales’ 18-1-1 professional boxing record isn’t technically “flawless,” he said he continues to embrace the nickname not in its literal sense, but as it has always meant to him: a way to drive continual progress.
That message is continued in his work with Sacramento-area youth, he hopes.
“It’s not a nickname, it’s always an expectation,” Gonzales said. “Even though perfection is impossible to achieve, you’re always learning, you’re always getting better, you’re always elevating.”
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