Quad Cities area resident wins multiple welterweight titles

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - A local quad city boxer has made a name for himself in the pros.

Daijohn Gonzalez, started boxing when he was fifteen and hasn’t looked back since.

“My dream was to be a champion,” said Daijohn Gonzalez.

For countless hours inside Beasly’s Downtown Boxing Club, Gonzalez has continued to improve his boxing skills inside the ring.

“I just felt like once I won the first one, it was just motivation in me like, that was something for me to fight for, you know,” said Gonzalez. “But it’s another thing to fight for some hardware, you know what I mean? So it just you train harder. You wake up earlier, you get to work.”

Gonzalez is now the reigning welterweight champion in both Iowa and Wisconsin.

“He has heart, you know, and you either have heart or you don’t have heart,” said the manager of Beasly’s Boxing Club, Brandon Bea. “So I mean, after his fight, I was very proud. I told him I love the fact that he does represent my gym in the right way.”

Gonzalez strives to be a motivator for Beasly’s.

“These guys work just as hard as I do,” said Gonzalez. “You know, I mean, I’m just excited that they look to me as a leader, and you know, someone who motivates them, and little do they know, they motivate me.”

Even though Gonzalez is currently a champion, he hasn’t forgotten the people or the place that helped him get there.

“It’s not the biggest gym,” said Gonzalez. “It’s not, you know, the most expensive gym but it’s home for us, you know, we make the most out of our situation and that’s what I kind of take pride in.”

There is also a younger boxer in the same family as well, Gonzalez’s son who hopes to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

Gonzalez won’t be away from the ring for too long, his next fight is on Dec. 9.

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