Second round After all these years he's still watching over them. He still loves them. He's still their coach.
Brothers hope their boxing sons
avoid mistakes of the pastCOMING OUT SWINGING
Kalani Simpson / ksimpson@starbulletin.com
"I feel like I succeeded finally," says Fred Pereira, who started the Waianae Boxing Club in 1962. "I had a lot of them that went the other way."
But these boys, he feels good about. The future is bright, and it's bright because the past was so rich.
The uncles tell the old stories and laugh, and the boys sit there listening, wide-eyed and taking in every word. Pereira looks on with pride.
Another group of boxing Pelens is growing up in Waianae. There were five of them. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. The five Pelen brothers -- Alex, Richard, Michael, Jeffrey and Walter -- were good-natured, good-hearted boys. But they had energy. "When we were sperm, we were fighting," Jeff says.
Richard was ready. Richard was beefing and fighting, and he would have taken on the world if he could. The Waianae Boxing Club was perfect.
"Richard was the heavy hitter, the slugger," Walter says. "Alex, he was the boxer. He was clever."Jeffrey, he could slip," Walter continues. "Once you make one mistake, you gone. You history."
They started in the club as kids. Pereira took them into the gym and taught them to fight. He became like a second father. The Pelen brothers had the touch. They were fighters. They terrorized the local boxing scene. Won Gold Gloves. Went all over the mainland. In the '80s and early '90s, they were in their glory days.
But boxing is a sport of self-denial, and the Pelens loved to laugh and have fun. There was always a luau to go to, a party somewhere, something to eat, something to drink. On the mainland, in their chances for greatness, they were always just short.
"We went for the trips," Alex admits sadly. They drank. They played around. They got in fights. It was one big party. And in the finals, they lost.
Says Pereira, "They didn't know they were breaking my heart."
They see it now, with Alex, the oldest, hitting 40. And behind the laughter of the stories, there is the sad specter of what might have been.
The years went by, and they all put boxing aside. Alex, Richard and Jeff went pro, but then the local fight game disappeared. They settled down, their families grew. The kids have been around boxing all of their lives.They're coming up now, and they're good. They've got it. The oldest ones are winning Junior Olympics bouts.
But things are different now. The Pelen brothers are determined: These boys will be serious. They won't throw it away. They won't make the same mistakes as their dads and uncles. They won't find out the hard way what the Pelen brothers already know.
Kini Sofa, 16, and Jeff Jr., 15, are already nationally ranked boxers, taking part in Junior Olympics matches on the mainland. Ricky Tangaro, 16, Richard Pelen, 15, Carlos Tangaro, 14, Michael Pelen, 12, and Kendell Pelen, 11, are also fighting seriously, showing promise. And a few of the young women have been known to spar as well.
Alex only has girls. "Hit my hand," he says, holding it up to his face with a laugh as a daughter walks by.
"They laughing but they not joking," Pereira says. "They're all very knowledgeable as far as boxing is concerned."
The kids train at the Waianae Boxing Club, where all the old clippings are on the wall. They learn from their dads. They spar with their uncles.
Pereira has passed the club on to Douglas Westbrook, who was a teammate with the Pelen brothers, and is running things better than ever, according to his old coach. "The only time I went to the school is when these guys were fighting," Pereira says.
But Westbrook cracks the whip. He checks on grades. He keeps them in line. Another club alum, another of Pereira's boys, Bruce Kawano, is an assistant coach. And now, the kids aren't just staying off the streets, but some of them are looking to the future.
"They can win both ways now," Pereira says. "They can win in boxing, and they can win with an education."
Michigan State gives out college boxing scholarships. This is the new goal. "Their hands can only take them so far," Walter says.
In the garage on a recent Sunday, kids are everywhere and family is all around. Pereira still watches over them. He's happy to see them all so close. The Pelen brothers smile and laugh. The old stories are so much fun. But the new ones will be even better.
Of people identifying themselves of being one race, 23 percent in Waianae claimed native Hawaiian, nearly four times the percentage for the state overall. And more than 40 percent of Waianae's total population identified themselves as being of more than one race, about double the percentage for the state overall. The area has a higher percentage of children and a lower percentage of elderly than the state overall, making Waianae's median age 7.4 years younger than the overall state's. A snapshot of Waianae
POPULATION
Number Percent Total 10,506 100% Male 5,223 49.7% Female 5,283 50.3%
LARGEST POPULATION GROUPS, BY RACE
One Race 6,102 58.1% Native Hawaiian 2,417 23% Filipino 1,155 11% White 982 9.3% Samoan 273 2.6% Two or more races 4,404 41.9% Hispanic and Latino 1,471 14% (of any race)
HOUSING OCCUPANCY
Total housing units 2,925 100% Occupied 2,595 88.7% Owner-occupied 1,702 65.6%* Renter-occupied 893 34.4%*
ETC.
Average household size 4.04 Average family size 4.30 Median age (years): 28.8 * Percentage of all occupied units
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census