Dad, coach made sure street never put Olympic boxer Luis Yanez down for the count

Dad, coach made sure street never put Olympic boxer Luis Yanez down for the count


Inside the sweltering Casa Guanajuato Boxing gym, the aficionados can reel off the names of skilled Dallas amateurs who might have had a chance to make U.S. Olympic teams past but were knocked out by drugs or alcohol or similar sirens of the street. Luis Yanez, the smallest of them all, is the first to make it from Dallas' streets to an opening ceremony. How far he goes in Beijing depends on how much he learned in Oak Cliff.

Luis Yanez (center) of Duncanville works out with teammates at the Olympics training center in Beijing. Mr. Yanez initially was kicked off the team for missing required practices last month, but was reinstated.

This summer day, the gym, a converted warehouse tucked behind an immigration center, offers all the niceties of a sweatshop. The 50 boxing wannabes – boys and girls, men and women – begin filing in at 5 p.m. Thirty minutes later, the gym is alive with a symphony of sounds from the boom, boom, boom of gloved fists pounding heavy bags to the rat-a-tat-tat of taped hands working the speed bags accompanied by the whirring of jump ropes.

At ringside, Dennis Rodarte, a Buddha-like trainer with arms folded and all-seeing eyes, offers not-so-gentle individual pointers as he surveys all that unfolds before him. On the wall overhead, hand-drawn portraits of Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César Chávez offer a Mount Rushmore-like reminder of what success might bring.

[Click image for a larger version] KYE R. LEE/DMN
KYE R. LEE/DMN
Behind Mr. Yanez's success is a team of supporters: assistant coach Hector Beltran (from left), father Bulmaro Yanez and coach Dennis Rodarte. The men who've been with Luis every step of the way won't make the trip to Beijing.

"You know, I have one kid who may have the talent to be another Luis," Mr. Rodarte, the gym's head trainer, says wearily when asked to appraise the assembled talent. "He's 15 years old. Luis doesn't like sparring with him because he is that good. But that kid won't be here today. The streets are beating me."

Avoiding temptations

[Click image for a larger version] Photos by TOM FOX/DMN
Photos by TOM FOX/DMN
From the beginning, Luis Yanez impressed his coach with his dedication and energy. That hard work is paying off now: He's given an excellent shot at winning a medal.

Luis Yanez, 5-foot-3 and 106 pounds, is unavailable to defend himself against the attack on his machismo. He is already nestled in Beijing with his seven U.S. boxing teammates preparing for his Olympic debut Wednesday against a light flyweight from Spain. He is in China because Mr. Rodarte wouldn't let the streets beat him for Mr. Yanez's soul.

Of course, the trainer had help.

Mr. Yanez, 19, has sidestepped all temptations. For all his showboating in the ring and his well-publicized run-in with USA Boxing that almost cost him his place on the Olympic team, Mr. Yanez has shown the single-minded discipline necessary to be one of the best in the world. He's a two-time U.S. champion, Pan Am Games champion, U.S. Olympic Trials winner and World Champion quarterfinalist. He has represented his country with distinction in Europe, South America and Africa. He's given an excellent chance to win a medal.

It has been an 11-year journey from the day Mr. Yanez first stepped into the Oak Cliff gym to competing in Beijing. Luis, who grew up in Duncanville, was introduced to Mr. Rodarte by his father, Bulmaro. A Mexican immigrant and a painter by trade, Bulmaro looked around his neighborhood and calculated the long odds of his son making much of his life without some extra guidance, discipline and a dream.

"You know how the streets are," says Bulmaro Yanez, who speaks halting English. "I thought if I could bring Luis to the gym, it would keep the peace in him."

Bulmaro was raising Luis alone. Luis has had relatively infrequent contact with his mother. The father thought his son hyperactive and mischievous. But Bulmaro knew a guy who had a friend who suggested Mr. Rodarte's gym might offer a safe haven.

"I need help," Bulmaro told the trainer when they met.

"I can't do it by myself," Mr. Rodarte replied. "I need you to be on top of the boy. And I need the boy to want it more than both of us."

"Whatever you need, you will get," Bulmaro promised.

Hands-on coaching

The first thing Mr. Rodarte did was order a change in Luis Yanez's diet. He ordered the father to rid his home of colas, cookies and candy. Anything with processed sugar had to be replaced by fruits and vegetables.

"I told him all the crap had to go," Mr. Rodarte said.

Then Mr. Rodarte went to Mr. Yanez's school.

"If there are any problems, don't send notes home," he told the teachers. "The boy's father works too hard and has trouble reading English. Here's my telephone number. Put me on speed dial. If anything happens that needs to be dealt with, call me."

Mr. Yanez transferred his excess energy to boxing, proving to be the ultimate gym rat. He wasn't afraid. He had some skills. Most importantly, he showed up on time at the gym every day. He also proved hungry for attention. Too hungry, thought some of the trainers who worked alongside Mr. Rodarte. He always seemed underfoot, always seemed to stick his nose where it didn't belong, always seemed to be asking too many questions.

"Hey, Coach ..." spewed from his lips faster and more often than his jabs.

Fellow trainers advised Mr. Rodarte to forget about the kid. He would require too much attention. Not only that, he was tiny. There would be little future for such a small boy.

But Mr. Rodarte was intrigued by the boy's dedication. There were days that Luis wanted to skip, but his father took care of that. He'd show his son his belt. Luis could go to the gym and fight or stay home and take a licking.

Mr. Rodarte devised conditioning drills to wear out Luis. He was amazed the boy completed the tasks and always came back begging for more.

Not long after, Luis started inviting himself to Mr. Rodarte's home. Often after long group training sessions, Mr. Rodarte would find himself alone in the gym with Luis.

"When is your dad coming to pick you up?" the trainer would ask.

"He's not," the boy replied. "I'm going home with you."

"Does your dad know?" Mr. Rodarte would ask.

"He told me you'd invite me," Luis said.

The two would drive from the gym up Interstate-35 to Mr. Rodarte's restaurant, Rodarte & Vivero's Blue Moon in Lewisville, with Luis doing most of the talking.

"He liked the idea of being with a family," Mr. Rodarte said.

Bumps in the road

Olympic boxing is a television stepchild. NBC has judged it a fringe sport not worthy of prime time. So while gymnasts such as Parker's Nastia Liukin and swimmers like Michael Phelps and sprinters like Tyson Gay have captured headlines, the U.S. boxing team exists mostly in agate type.

Except, of course, for the first 16 days of July, when Luis Yanez was thrown off the U.S. boxing team and ultimately reinstated. The fighter who never skipped a day in his Oak Cliff gym had missed three weeks with the U.S. Olympic team in Colorado Springs, Colo. He didn't inform Olympic coach Dan Campbell of his whereabouts and said team officials didn't understand that he was dealing with family issues. Mr. Rodarte never felt the need to pass that information on to Mr. Campbell.

Mr. Campbell, a first-time Olympic coach, was quoted during the episode as calling Mr. Yanez "one of the biggest liars I've ever met."

"I was having trouble with my daughter," said Bulmaro Yanez, 44. "She was doing drugs. She was trying to get finished with it. She is 24, and I needed someone to stay with her. I have to work. I needed Luis to stay with her. He beat the streets. He had to show his sister how to."

But there were other problems. Mr. Yanez is a slick boxer who has never minded showboating in the ring. He has never minded talking to opponents, baiting them or pushing the rules to their limits.

Mr. Rodarte approved of the tactics. They were part of Mr. Yanez's strategy to confuse opponents, maybe enrage them, force them to make a mistake. Mr. Campbell saw them as a detriment that could cost Mr. Yanez points with no-nonsense international judges.

On his own at the Games

Mr. Yanez hasn't been alone in sparring with the Olympic coach. Six U.S. boxers have expressed concern with USA Boxing's mandate that they train solely with Mr. Campbell in Colorado.

Mr. Rodarte has also questioned Mr. Campbell's training methods. On Thursday, Gary Russell Jr., the U.S. representative at 119 pounds, was removed from the team after collapsing during his attempt to make weight.

In Beijing, Mr. Campbell and Mr. Yanez appear to have made their peace.

"Traveling to different countries with these coaches, I had to get used to them," Mr. Yanez said last week in Beijing, "but like I said, there's nobody out there like my coach, because he brought me to this point."

If you watch the Olympics, you'll see NBC's cameras focusing on the parents and coaches of most U.S. athletes in the spotlight. They'll be cheering in the stands or, in some cases, coaching their children. Ms. Liukin, for example, will have her father, her coach, by her side. Gymnastics allows it; boxing doesn't. U.S. boxing doesn't welcome personal coaches at the Olympics.

Mr. Rodarte won't be at the Olympics. Neither will Bulmaro Yanez. There was no money to go. It's a subject that brings tears to a father's eyes.

When Luis Yanez was asked on a standard athlete questionnaire, "Are any family and friends coming to China to support you?" he replied, "Not at all."

A cellphone has been his umbilical cord. Mr. Yanez and Mr. Rodarte talk every day. Luis has inscribed his father's name on his gloves.

"He has my heart with him," said Bulmaro Yanez, "and he has Dennis' brain with him. My son will do just fine."