October 19, 2025 • 27 mins
A collage of girlhood and grit.
Born and raised in Stockton, California, 15-year-old Faith Gomez is starting to make a name for herself in the amateur boxing world. A Latina with no big sponsors or fancy gym, Faith trains out of her garage with her father. Her battles don't just take place inside of the ring, as this teenager is fighting stereotypes and the pressures of growing up. Producer Adreanna Rodriguez —who was born and raised in Stockton— brings this coming of age story about a teen juggling school and the grind of becoming a boxing champion… all while giggling and showing off her Hello Kitty stuffies.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'm Lisa and Akazawa join me on season two of
Stars and Stars with Lisa, where I sit down with
some of the most exciting stars of our time to
find out what their birth chart reveals about their life's purpose,
their relationships, and their challenges. Winner of the Signal Award
for Most Inspirational Podcast, Stars and Stars will help you
make sense of today's complicated times even if you're an
(00:28):
astrology skeptic. You can listen to Stars and Stars with
Lisa wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to follow
the show so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Although a couple of rob me listening if you on.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm standing in the middle of a driveway peering into
an open garage door on a hot summer night. I'm
in my hometown, Stockton, California. The garage has been fully
transformed into a makeshift gym, with matts covering most of
the concrete floor and a heavy punching bag swinging next
(01:12):
to the washing machine.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Come this swamp, don't.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You can't really tell because you can only hear her
grunting at her coach, But inside, Faith Gomez is moving
with precision and power, pivoting on her toes as she
lands every job. Her belts and metals are proudly displayed
on the wall, right next to a letter from the
City of Stockton honoring her achievements.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Don't keep your habits down.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
One of her coaches, who everyone calls Suley, is wearing
a thick, padded chess guard to absorb her punches. Still,
I can tell her quickness is wearing him out.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Don't accept direction, So he was a Jeff.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Time.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I see you guys already working on getting hand down
and all that.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
As the training session is about to wrap, Fate's other coach,
her dad, Simon, enters the garage to see how things
are going.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
To push, push it out, it up, put it down,
but dominate that jabs.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Faith is just two weeks out from her next big fight,
an all female competition and her first international one. So
every job, hook and pivot matter.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
Javid, like you guess, said David, right hand, always right
here with rick, and move it aggressively.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I tell it to be a little aggressively and I would boom,
yeah about that else, fucker come on right hand. Right after.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
A year ago, I knew I wanted to tell a
story that showcased the boxing scene here in my hometown
of Stockton. A lot of greats have come out of
our city. We have the Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate,
who put Stockton on the global MMA map. But even
before that, boxing had been woven into the fabric of
this place, the legendary fights held at the Civic Auditorium
(03:14):
back in the day. This place has a nickname, Fat
City that reflects both irony and pride. There are layers
to this stemming from Stockton's heyday, where you could come
out to the Central Valley and make it big, lift, fat,
and luxuriously. We may not have much, but we fight
hard and there's beauty in that. We are news desert,
(03:37):
a place where we mostly see mugshots and crime stats
come out of our community. Yes, Stockton can be a gritty,
rough around the edges type place. So I knew I
wanted to tell this story because even in the often
overlooked corners of this country, if you look hard enough,
there's power, resilience, hope. But what I didn't know was
(04:00):
that the story I'd end up telling would be about
a teenager. Faith is only fifteen years old.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
Okay, so this is my bed.
Speaker 7 (04:12):
You can't see the bottom sheet, but it's pink because
I'm going through my girly eric.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Faith pulls up the comforter of her twin bed to
reveal a hot, pink fitted sheet. On top of her
bed are a handful of stuffed animals.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
I'm Faith Gomes attend squat Stocked, an early college academy
known as SECA. I still gotta get used to saying softmore.
I'm saying I'm fifteen and everything.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Her thick brown hair perfectly frames the roundness of her
baby face, and at five foot nothing, Faith is kind
of small and she can be soft spoken at times.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
I have my mom, I have my dad, I have
my sister Brittany Amber Jasmine, and then myself and then
two pets, dog in a guinea pig.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I was drawn to Faith's story not just because of
her raw talent, but because I saw a young girl
with big dreams and the heart and discipline to chase them.
So for the last year I've been documenting her life
as she prepares for her next big fight. Her story
reminds me of the determination and hustle I saw all
(05:25):
around me growing up in Stockton, that hunger to fight
for something more, even when the odds are stacked against you.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria no Josa Today. The journey
of a teenage girl towards becoming a pro Latina boxer.
What it's like to balance school girlhood and a dream
of becoming boxing's next big name. Producer Adriana Rodriguez takes
(06:03):
us back to Stockton to continue our story about Faith.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I'm in faith off white room because she wants to
show me something.
Speaker 7 (06:12):
And then this is rough because you can feel it.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Faith picks up one of her many stuffed animals so
I can feel it's fur.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Oh you have a lot of monkeys.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Oh my god. That's Jazz, Faith's thirteen year old sister.
The two share room. People often think Jazz is older,
maybe because she's a couple inches taller.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
No, when people see me, they say him.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
When they see me, they have a baby face.
Speaker 7 (06:39):
And then when they see Faith, she has a baby body.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
But she's a grown man woman.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
She just a grown man woman.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Do you see?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Though?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
The girls are hilarious, constantly cracking jokes and full of
goofy teenage energy. The corkboard hanging next to their TV
says it all. It's covered with photos from tournaments and metals,
glittery stickers, Hello Kitty and k Pop cutouts, a collage
of girlhood and grit.
Speaker 8 (07:06):
And these are my rosaries. Oh yeah, to keep kept two.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
We're not Catholic, but we're Christian.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Faith has two rosaries hanging right next to that glittery
covered corkboard. They're families. Religious beliefs run deep and are
woven into everything they do, from the way they fight
to the way they care for each other. Faith is
more than just a name. It's what holds the Gomez
family together and out of the ring. Since you've been
(07:36):
doing this for four years, like you know, you're still
a kid, and I feel like boxing it's kind of
like a serious sport.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I definitely changed over the years, and once I got
into boxing, it just cleared my mind and helped them,
like stay focused on a certain thing, you know, helped
me mature a little more. At times.
Speaker 9 (07:53):
I still mess around, you know, I'm still kids, you know,
but when it comes to boxing, it's like that's all
I know.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
As I've gotten to know Faith over the past year,
I often find myself forgetting that she's just a teenager.
She wakes up before dawn to run powers through a
full day of school, trains hard when she gets home
at night.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Right now, I'm taking ap classes and college classes, so
it's a little more harder than just going to regular
high school.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
She even sometimes has to miss a week of school
here and there just to be able to attend training
camps and competitions.
Speaker 9 (08:26):
I feel like I'm just trying to enjoy the time
I have right now, you know, traveling and getting out there.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yet somehow she finds time to do her homework and
get good grades.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
When people going to stockdon like that place is places hard,
the place is ghetto. You know, they have all these
descriptions about this place. But like, to me, even if
we were struggling, I still find comfort in places where
we live.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
As someone who's also from Stockton, I hear her words
and I feel that same mix of resilience and pride.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
People in Stockton stick together and they they will to
help each other out.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Faith's family has a long history in Stockton and with boxing.
Her dad, Simon, is from here.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Grew up around violence, group around it, and it was
right in front of my face. It was almost for sure,
you're going to join a gang. At that period of time,
and as God blessed me with some guy.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Getting talent, Simon leaned into sports. He played football and
got involved in MMA fighting and training. It gave him structure,
a way to stay focused, and eventually a way out.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
My story is it?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And like unique?
Speaker 5 (09:34):
Is this a slocking story of kid had to fight
his way home a lot. I didn't choose to join
a gang. I chose to play sports and probably saved
my life.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And he's right, I know that story too, of having
to fight my way home from school, except I was
lucky because I grew up with two big sisters who
were not afraid to run up on someone for making
me cry. So most of the time I never even
had to swing. Stockton will do that to a kid.
It builds resilience into our DNA. Stockton was the biggest
(10:11):
city in the US to go bankrupt in twenty twelve,
so growing up in Stockton means you learn to fight,
sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally. So when Simon says his
story isn't unique, I think a lot of us from
Stockton get it, whether we like it or not. Faith
grew up like any other kid, curious, energetic, always on
(10:32):
the move, but even from a young age, her athleticism
stood out. Simon would catch her climbing on the fridge,
scaling hallways, and jumping over couches. By the time she
was three or.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Four, I want to start fighting, and always begging them NonStop, like.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
Take me to gym, let me go work out, let
me go fight someone, you know once in.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
A while, get the bits out me and her words bam, bam.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
You know, she had a lot of power in her hands.
We're just, you know, six seven years old, and I
don't even.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Find my sister's that time.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Out of all of her sisters, Faith was the only
one who wanted to fight, the one who enjoyed watching
her dad do mma and was captivated by the boxing
matches on TV. She had just turned ten when she
really started begging her dad to box.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I don't want my daughter to box.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
I know how it does get in the face. I
know how does it get kicked, and it's not fun.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
You know, I don't want that for my kid.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
And she bugged me and bugged.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Me and bugged me.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
It was twenty twenty, the world had just shut down,
and Faith was still asking to box. With lockdown keeping
everyone home, Simon finally ran out of reasons to say no.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Finally he let up, and he was like a cigarette gent.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
I was off of work. You know, nobody's working, and
basically I couldn't tell her no anymore.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Part of him wanted to shield her from that grind,
but he also recognized something in her. Letting her train
wasn't just about boxing. It was about giving her the
structure and self discipline that once saved him. The plan
was just to sign up, get a feel for the
training style, But the moment she heard they were going
(12:12):
to the gym.
Speaker 8 (12:13):
She's like, hey, do I get to fight today?
Speaker 9 (12:16):
After the first like sparring, I had a liking today.
I was captivated by, you know, just fighting inside the
ring with another person.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You're ten at that age. Yeah, It's hard to wrap
my head around this sometimes that she was only ten
years old when all of this started. Ten, just a
little girl begging her dad to let her fight in
a sport where punches land hard, where the goal is
to outlast or overpower the other person, where pain isn't
(12:46):
a side effect. It's part of the point. I think
about what I was doing at ten, and then I
look at Faith already carrying discipline hunger and this deep
sense of purpose. I also think about what I was
doing when I was fifteen, and honestly, the world felt
like a place full of battles already, as it does
when we're in that very hormonal adolescent phase, which for girls,
(13:11):
there's that extra little thing our periods.
Speaker 7 (13:15):
People have different mental cycles and different pain levels, and
I do struggle a lot when it comes to my period.
I have a heavy flow, and I tend to cramp
so much.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That cramping that gets so bad it makes her throw
up or leaves her unable to move.
Speaker 7 (13:32):
You could gain the one to three pounds I have
to maintain my water more. I'm going to make sure
I'm not bloated when the fight does come.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It's not just about discomfort, It's about discipline.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
I could get through this. I could get through my weight,
I could get through cramps. I could get through everything,
and I can still mature and become a woman little
by little.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Coming up on Latino USA, the complicated relationship that this
sport has with toughness, violence and what it means to
be a girl in the ring.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Lid which I take boxing my life from this kid,
which I do.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It does no word and now we step into the
ring with Faith as she goes pound for pound on
a national stage.
Speaker 10 (14:18):
Here my dad saying, you going, Faith, this is what
we work for. Get mad, this is what came for.
If you ain't mad, you ain't.
Speaker 8 (14:25):
Ready, stay with us.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yes, welcome back to Latino, USA. I'm Maria Hosa. We're
going to go back to the story of Faith and
(14:48):
her boxing journey. I'm going to hand the mic to
producer Adriana Rodriguez, who's going to start by addressing the
physical intensity of boxing, especially when it's young girls in
the ring.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I should probably state the obvious boxing is brutal.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
It just is.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I've watched Faith fight a handful of times now and
I still look away sometimes when the punches hit really
hard and when there's blood. I ask Simon what it's
like to watch his daughter step into a ring knowing
she could get hurt.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
The only way to protect a kid is either take
her out or teach her the right way. And who
chose to be obsessive with that part of safety.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Either you teach your kid how to do it right,
or you pull them out elily.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
We tried to take boxing life from this kid, which
I do it does not work. You can take your phone,
you take you can take money away from ring whatever.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
She's fine with that.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
But every time you try to take boxing life shed
I almost feel disrespectfu. She's ready to fight, be not.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Everyone sees what Faith is doing and feels inspired. I've
seen people questioning youth boxing online, and even medical experts
are clear and cautious of the risks. They say it's
not just bruises or broken nose, but there's the potential
for long term neurological damage. Simon knows this, but feels
(16:13):
strongly about his and his daughter's decision to pursue boxing.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
I would put her in some of these situations if
I didn't trust what we do and what she she's
not looking good, you know, then we wouldn't put her
in it, or wouldn't sign her up for a fight.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
You know.
Speaker 10 (16:29):
Corner makes some boys or face.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
One of face early fights took place in the tiny
town of Coolidge, Arizona. She was just twelve, and this
isn't a kid whose family can casually fly her around
the country for tournaments. Every trip takes planning, fundraising, and
sacrifice from everyone. But Simon knows how important these fights are.
(16:57):
For an amateur boxer, because it could be the moment
to catch the eye of the right coach, the right promoter,
or even someone from USA Boxing or an Olympic scout.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
I heard him in the corner.
Speaker 10 (17:10):
Look you going, Faith, if you want this fight, this
is all you. This is all you. This is what
we worked for. We didn't come all the way from
California to come here to lose this fight. You know
you got, this is what we worked for.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Faith's opponents stumbled to the ground, and Faith couldn't believe
what she had just done.
Speaker 11 (17:31):
I've seen her lay on the floor and it shocked me,
like I just dropped this girl, Like did I just did?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
I just bring the crowd to go silent.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To your winner, my unanimous decision.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
This fight changed everything boxing.
Speaker 10 (17:48):
You got a blue corner, Faith.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Faith didn't just hold her own. She dropped a top
girl in her brack.
Speaker 10 (18:02):
I'll see to the music. I'll spill in it, you know,
Winter Loss.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
I gave it my all. I dropped the top girl,
and I was excited.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Listen, I get it, I get it. It might sound
really intense to hear a teenage girl talk this way,
but honestly, I don't think being a fighter and being
a teenager are two sides of a coin you have
to choose between. I spent enough time with Faith to
know that the girl who dreams about knockouts is the
same one who giggles with her sister right after they're
(18:35):
done arguing about sitting on each other's bed. Last December,
Faith was fourteen. She and her family traveled across the
country to the USA Boxing National Championship in Richmond, Virginia.
I went to and I'm not gonna lie. I almost
(18:55):
had a heart attack thirty seconds into watching her fight.
Watch literally notified me that my heart rate suddenly rose
and I wasn't even the one in the ring. In
the end, Faith did great in her bracket, and for
the championship fight, she was set to face one of
the toughest opponents of her young career.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
She's a top girl.
Speaker 11 (19:17):
She's never been defeated.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I seen her guys, someone who was.
Speaker 11 (19:21):
Worth fighting, worth every bit of my time, and she
didn't respect any of her fighters, and I want her
to respect me.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
I want to show who.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I am face opponent was known for ending fights early,
and here was Faith going pound for pound, punch for punch,
refusing to back down.
Speaker 10 (19:38):
You hear my dad saying, keep going, Faith, this is
what we worked for. Get mad, this w came forward.
If you ain't mad, you ain't ready, what a loss
You're going to show her that you came here to fight,
and you came here to give it to that.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Even with the words of encouragement, Faith found herself slowing down.
Her punches got a little lazy, and she stopped bouncing
as much.
Speaker 11 (20:00):
My arms are tired, and how I just didn't want
to let go. My body was sore and herding from
long days of training and struggling to make weight.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
The bell rings, and Faith goes back to her corner.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Something to My.
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Dad told me, how like, it don't matter what happened
to ask for board.
Speaker 11 (20:18):
You know you gave it to me. You know you
did everything you could.
Speaker 10 (20:22):
Faith, this is what we came for.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Faith lost, But she held her own against one of
the top girls nationwide. This teenager who was still juggling classes,
chores and curfews, got in that ring and showed a
kind of composure, courage, and heart that can't be taught.
It's fierce, it's alive, It's earned her parents, her siblings,
(20:45):
her coaches. They're all in this with her, and so
is her city.
Speaker 8 (20:52):
We will be right back, don't they. Yes, Hey, we're back.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
There are clearly more opportunities for young boxers now, but
that wasn't always the case for girls.
Speaker 12 (21:13):
So my parents didn't let me play sports. They didn't
let me box. I was never on teams. I think
that they were working too much, they couldn't afford things.
And then the other thing is girls don't fight.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Blanca Gutierres founded the all female Beautiful Brawlers competition. It's
held annually in the coastal city of Pacifica, California, at
her gym called baby Face Boxing. Blanca grew up watching
her dad box, but unlike Faith, Blanca's dad never let
her step into the ring as a young girl growing
(21:47):
up in the seventies. But in her twenties, she stepped
into a kickboxing gem and thirty minutes in she knew
she was hooked. Some of the coaches didn't take her
seriously at first, but Blanca didn't care.
Speaker 12 (22:00):
Six months later, I was fighting, and so I could
literally say Beautiful Brawlers started. Back then, in my mind,
I was like shit, like this is beautiful. This is
what my life's supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So years later, Blanca built the space. She never had
a gym where girls could fight and be taken seriously,
this is exactly the competition Faith has been training for.
The Beautiful Brawlers fight card hosted by Blanca's gym, a
stage built for fighters just like her.
Speaker 10 (22:32):
We're going to start this event, mom, and we want.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
To say thank you for showing on, thank you for
supporting us.
Speaker 12 (22:40):
The first time England comes across the pond to fight
in the United States. It's a great honor.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
I've been to my fair share of boxing tournaments at
this point, but this one feels different. The energy is
bubbly electric, and there's this unspoken sense of competition and sisterhood.
One by one, the fighters step into the ring for
three two minute rounds, with each about ending not in
(23:09):
rivalry but in sweaty, smiling hugs between opponents, no matter
whose hand was raised.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Right now, I feel confident, comfortable. I've been training for it,
and plus it's a smaller ring and I could put
on more of the show there. You know, she tries
to run cast your right away and gotta worry about
all that space.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Her hands are wrapped, her gloves are on, She's bouncing
in place, calm, focus, confident as ever. This isn't just
another match. It's her moment.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
I mean, it's whatever.
Speaker 10 (23:41):
I mean.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
I'm coming for that belt, pink belt. Now, I'm trying
to win the top international fight. I mean, that's what
I came before, and that fight right away.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
With the footwork of a dancer and the grit of
a street fighter, Faith puts on her show. Faith won
her match and also walked away with the second belt
(24:30):
for best fight of the night. I caught up with
Faith outside of the gym just moments after the fight.
A small crowd had already formed, family, friends, even a
few strangers. They were all waiting for a chance to
congratulate her and snap a photo with the champ.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
All Right, I just want I just want the one
I was talking about that Bik Glenn. I feel good,
I feel happy. Why isn't a little draink because I
was draining water, But I mean I still pulped her
head back. I gave a good show and a lot
of people enjoyed its.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Faith is already training for her next big fight. She'll
be back in the ring for the USA Boxing National
Championships this December. What else has been going through your
mind with preparing for your next fight?
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Honestly, you could even.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
One to wear or another, but for now, this fifteen
year old has school in the morning.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
This episode was produced by adrian Na Rodriguez and edited
by our managing editor Fernando Echavari. It was mixed by
Julia Caruso, JJ Carubin and gabriel Lebayez. Fact checking for
this episode by Rosanna Aguire. Special thanks to Diego Ayala
from the Press Recording Studio.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
In Stockton, California.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
The Latino USA team also includes Jessica Ellis, Rebecca I Vara, Rerinaldo,
Leanos Junior, Stephanie Lebou, Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Lis Luna Gorrimr Marquez,
Jurieta Martinelli, Monica Moreles Garcia and Nancy Trujuillo. Benni Le
Ramirez and I are co executive producers. I'm Your Host
Mariano Josa. Latino USA is part of Iheart's myke Ultura
(26:40):
podcast network. Executive producers at iHeart are Leo Gomez and
Arlene Santana. Join us again on our next episode. In
the meantime, we'll see you on all of our social media.
And don't forget, dear listener, Join futuro Plus. It's our
new membership program. You get to listen to everything ad
(27:01):
free and you get whol bonus content.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
What's not to love.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Join futuro Plus and you'll be happy you did a start.
Speaker 8 (27:09):
Approximaes Chao.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment,
building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.
The Heising Simons Foundation unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. More
at hsfoundation dot org and Skyline Foundation
I'm Lisa and Akazawa join me on season two of
Stars and Stars with Lisa, where I sit down with
some of the most exciting stars of our time to
find out what their birth chart reveals about their life's purpose,
their relationships, and their challenges. Winner of the Signal Award
for Most Inspirational Podcast, Stars and Stars will help you
make sense of today's complicated times even if you're an
(00:28):
astrology skeptic. You can listen to Stars and Stars with
Lisa wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to follow
the show so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Although a couple of rob me listening if you on.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm standing in the middle of a driveway peering into
an open garage door on a hot summer night. I'm
in my hometown, Stockton, California. The garage has been fully
transformed into a makeshift gym, with matts covering most of
the concrete floor and a heavy punching bag swinging next
(01:12):
to the washing machine.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Come this swamp, don't.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You can't really tell because you can only hear her
grunting at her coach, But inside, Faith Gomez is moving
with precision and power, pivoting on her toes as she
lands every job. Her belts and metals are proudly displayed
on the wall, right next to a letter from the
City of Stockton honoring her achievements.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Don't keep your habits down.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
One of her coaches, who everyone calls Suley, is wearing
a thick, padded chess guard to absorb her punches. Still,
I can tell her quickness is wearing him out.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Don't accept direction, So he was a Jeff.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Time.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I see you guys already working on getting hand down
and all that.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
As the training session is about to wrap, Fate's other coach,
her dad, Simon, enters the garage to see how things
are going.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
To push, push it out, it up, put it down,
but dominate that jabs.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Faith is just two weeks out from her next big fight,
an all female competition and her first international one. So
every job, hook and pivot matter.
Speaker 6 (02:32):
Javid, like you guess, said David, right hand, always right
here with rick, and move it aggressively.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I tell it to be a little aggressively and I would boom,
yeah about that else, fucker come on right hand. Right after.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
A year ago, I knew I wanted to tell a
story that showcased the boxing scene here in my hometown
of Stockton. A lot of greats have come out of
our city. We have the Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate,
who put Stockton on the global MMA map. But even
before that, boxing had been woven into the fabric of
this place, the legendary fights held at the Civic Auditorium
(03:14):
back in the day. This place has a nickname, Fat
City that reflects both irony and pride. There are layers
to this stemming from Stockton's heyday, where you could come
out to the Central Valley and make it big, lift, fat,
and luxuriously. We may not have much, but we fight
hard and there's beauty in that. We are news desert,
(03:37):
a place where we mostly see mugshots and crime stats
come out of our community. Yes, Stockton can be a gritty,
rough around the edges type place. So I knew I
wanted to tell this story because even in the often
overlooked corners of this country, if you look hard enough,
there's power, resilience, hope. But what I didn't know was
(04:00):
that the story I'd end up telling would be about
a teenager. Faith is only fifteen years old.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
Okay, so this is my bed.
Speaker 7 (04:12):
You can't see the bottom sheet, but it's pink because
I'm going through my girly eric.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Faith pulls up the comforter of her twin bed to
reveal a hot, pink fitted sheet. On top of her
bed are a handful of stuffed animals.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
I'm Faith Gomes attend squat Stocked, an early college academy
known as SECA. I still gotta get used to saying softmore.
I'm saying I'm fifteen and everything.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Her thick brown hair perfectly frames the roundness of her
baby face, and at five foot nothing, Faith is kind
of small and she can be soft spoken at times.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
I have my mom, I have my dad, I have
my sister Brittany Amber Jasmine, and then myself and then
two pets, dog in a guinea pig.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I was drawn to Faith's story not just because of
her raw talent, but because I saw a young girl
with big dreams and the heart and discipline to chase them.
So for the last year I've been documenting her life
as she prepares for her next big fight. Her story
reminds me of the determination and hustle I saw all
(05:25):
around me growing up in Stockton, that hunger to fight
for something more, even when the odds are stacked against you.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria no Josa Today. The journey
of a teenage girl towards becoming a pro Latina boxer.
What it's like to balance school girlhood and a dream
of becoming boxing's next big name. Producer Adriana Rodriguez takes
(06:03):
us back to Stockton to continue our story about Faith.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I'm in faith off white room because she wants to
show me something.
Speaker 7 (06:12):
And then this is rough because you can feel it.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Faith picks up one of her many stuffed animals so
I can feel it's fur.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Oh you have a lot of monkeys.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Oh my god. That's Jazz, Faith's thirteen year old sister.
The two share room. People often think Jazz is older,
maybe because she's a couple inches taller.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
No, when people see me, they say him.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
When they see me, they have a baby face.
Speaker 7 (06:39):
And then when they see Faith, she has a baby body.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
But she's a grown man woman.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
She just a grown man woman.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Do you see?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Though?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
The girls are hilarious, constantly cracking jokes and full of
goofy teenage energy. The corkboard hanging next to their TV
says it all. It's covered with photos from tournaments and metals,
glittery stickers, Hello Kitty and k Pop cutouts, a collage
of girlhood and grit.
Speaker 8 (07:06):
And these are my rosaries. Oh yeah, to keep kept two.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
We're not Catholic, but we're Christian.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Faith has two rosaries hanging right next to that glittery
covered corkboard. They're families. Religious beliefs run deep and are
woven into everything they do, from the way they fight
to the way they care for each other. Faith is
more than just a name. It's what holds the Gomez
family together and out of the ring. Since you've been
(07:36):
doing this for four years, like you know, you're still
a kid, and I feel like boxing it's kind of
like a serious sport.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I definitely changed over the years, and once I got
into boxing, it just cleared my mind and helped them,
like stay focused on a certain thing, you know, helped
me mature a little more. At times.
Speaker 9 (07:53):
I still mess around, you know, I'm still kids, you know,
but when it comes to boxing, it's like that's all
I know.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
As I've gotten to know Faith over the past year,
I often find myself forgetting that she's just a teenager.
She wakes up before dawn to run powers through a
full day of school, trains hard when she gets home
at night.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Right now, I'm taking ap classes and college classes, so
it's a little more harder than just going to regular
high school.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
She even sometimes has to miss a week of school
here and there just to be able to attend training
camps and competitions.
Speaker 9 (08:26):
I feel like I'm just trying to enjoy the time
I have right now, you know, traveling and getting out there.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yet somehow she finds time to do her homework and
get good grades.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
When people going to stockdon like that place is places hard,
the place is ghetto. You know, they have all these
descriptions about this place. But like, to me, even if
we were struggling, I still find comfort in places where
we live.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
As someone who's also from Stockton, I hear her words
and I feel that same mix of resilience and pride.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
People in Stockton stick together and they they will to
help each other out.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Faith's family has a long history in Stockton and with boxing.
Her dad, Simon, is from here.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Grew up around violence, group around it, and it was
right in front of my face. It was almost for sure,
you're going to join a gang. At that period of time,
and as God blessed me with some guy.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Getting talent, Simon leaned into sports. He played football and
got involved in MMA fighting and training. It gave him structure,
a way to stay focused, and eventually a way out.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
My story is it?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And like unique?
Speaker 5 (09:34):
Is this a slocking story of kid had to fight
his way home a lot. I didn't choose to join
a gang. I chose to play sports and probably saved
my life.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And he's right, I know that story too, of having
to fight my way home from school, except I was
lucky because I grew up with two big sisters who
were not afraid to run up on someone for making
me cry. So most of the time I never even
had to swing. Stockton will do that to a kid.
It builds resilience into our DNA. Stockton was the biggest
(10:11):
city in the US to go bankrupt in twenty twelve,
so growing up in Stockton means you learn to fight,
sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally. So when Simon says his
story isn't unique, I think a lot of us from
Stockton get it, whether we like it or not. Faith
grew up like any other kid, curious, energetic, always on
(10:32):
the move, but even from a young age, her athleticism
stood out. Simon would catch her climbing on the fridge,
scaling hallways, and jumping over couches. By the time she
was three or.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Four, I want to start fighting, and always begging them NonStop, like.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
Take me to gym, let me go work out, let
me go fight someone, you know once in.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
A while, get the bits out me and her words bam, bam.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
You know, she had a lot of power in her hands.
We're just, you know, six seven years old, and I
don't even.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Find my sister's that time.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Out of all of her sisters, Faith was the only
one who wanted to fight, the one who enjoyed watching
her dad do mma and was captivated by the boxing
matches on TV. She had just turned ten when she
really started begging her dad to box.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I don't want my daughter to box.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
I know how it does get in the face. I
know how does it get kicked, and it's not fun.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
You know, I don't want that for my kid.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
And she bugged me and bugged.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Me and bugged me.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
It was twenty twenty, the world had just shut down,
and Faith was still asking to box. With lockdown keeping
everyone home, Simon finally ran out of reasons to say no.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Finally he let up, and he was like a cigarette gent.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
I was off of work. You know, nobody's working, and
basically I couldn't tell her no anymore.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Part of him wanted to shield her from that grind,
but he also recognized something in her. Letting her train
wasn't just about boxing. It was about giving her the
structure and self discipline that once saved him. The plan
was just to sign up, get a feel for the
training style, But the moment she heard they were going
(12:12):
to the gym.
Speaker 8 (12:13):
She's like, hey, do I get to fight today?
Speaker 9 (12:16):
After the first like sparring, I had a liking today.
I was captivated by, you know, just fighting inside the
ring with another person.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You're ten at that age. Yeah, It's hard to wrap
my head around this sometimes that she was only ten
years old when all of this started. Ten, just a
little girl begging her dad to let her fight in
a sport where punches land hard, where the goal is
to outlast or overpower the other person, where pain isn't
(12:46):
a side effect. It's part of the point. I think
about what I was doing at ten, and then I
look at Faith already carrying discipline hunger and this deep
sense of purpose. I also think about what I was
doing when I was fifteen, and honestly, the world felt
like a place full of battles already, as it does
when we're in that very hormonal adolescent phase, which for girls,
(13:11):
there's that extra little thing our periods.
Speaker 7 (13:15):
People have different mental cycles and different pain levels, and
I do struggle a lot when it comes to my period.
I have a heavy flow, and I tend to cramp
so much.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That cramping that gets so bad it makes her throw
up or leaves her unable to move.
Speaker 7 (13:32):
You could gain the one to three pounds I have
to maintain my water more. I'm going to make sure
I'm not bloated when the fight does come.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
It's not just about discomfort, It's about discipline.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
I could get through this. I could get through my weight,
I could get through cramps. I could get through everything,
and I can still mature and become a woman little
by little.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Coming up on Latino USA, the complicated relationship that this
sport has with toughness, violence and what it means to
be a girl in the ring.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Lid which I take boxing my life from this kid,
which I do.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It does no word and now we step into the
ring with Faith as she goes pound for pound on
a national stage.
Speaker 10 (14:18):
Here my dad saying, you going, Faith, this is what
we work for. Get mad, this is what came for.
If you ain't mad, you ain't.
Speaker 8 (14:25):
Ready, stay with us.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yes, welcome back to Latino, USA. I'm Maria Hosa. We're
going to go back to the story of Faith and
(14:48):
her boxing journey. I'm going to hand the mic to
producer Adriana Rodriguez, who's going to start by addressing the
physical intensity of boxing, especially when it's young girls in
the ring.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I should probably state the obvious boxing is brutal.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
It just is.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I've watched Faith fight a handful of times now and
I still look away sometimes when the punches hit really
hard and when there's blood. I ask Simon what it's
like to watch his daughter step into a ring knowing
she could get hurt.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
The only way to protect a kid is either take
her out or teach her the right way. And who
chose to be obsessive with that part of safety.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Either you teach your kid how to do it right,
or you pull them out elily.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
We tried to take boxing life from this kid, which
I do it does not work. You can take your phone,
you take you can take money away from ring whatever.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
She's fine with that.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
But every time you try to take boxing life shed
I almost feel disrespectfu. She's ready to fight, be not.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Everyone sees what Faith is doing and feels inspired. I've
seen people questioning youth boxing online, and even medical experts
are clear and cautious of the risks. They say it's
not just bruises or broken nose, but there's the potential
for long term neurological damage. Simon knows this, but feels
(16:13):
strongly about his and his daughter's decision to pursue boxing.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
I would put her in some of these situations if
I didn't trust what we do and what she she's
not looking good, you know, then we wouldn't put her
in it, or wouldn't sign her up for a fight.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
You know.
Speaker 10 (16:29):
Corner makes some boys or face.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
One of face early fights took place in the tiny
town of Coolidge, Arizona. She was just twelve, and this
isn't a kid whose family can casually fly her around
the country for tournaments. Every trip takes planning, fundraising, and
sacrifice from everyone. But Simon knows how important these fights are.
(16:57):
For an amateur boxer, because it could be the moment
to catch the eye of the right coach, the right promoter,
or even someone from USA Boxing or an Olympic scout.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
I heard him in the corner.
Speaker 10 (17:10):
Look you going, Faith, if you want this fight, this
is all you. This is all you. This is what
we worked for. We didn't come all the way from
California to come here to lose this fight. You know
you got, this is what we worked for.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Faith's opponents stumbled to the ground, and Faith couldn't believe
what she had just done.
Speaker 11 (17:31):
I've seen her lay on the floor and it shocked me,
like I just dropped this girl, Like did I just did?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
I just bring the crowd to go silent.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To your winner, my unanimous decision.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
This fight changed everything boxing.
Speaker 10 (17:48):
You got a blue corner, Faith.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Faith didn't just hold her own. She dropped a top
girl in her brack.
Speaker 10 (18:02):
I'll see to the music. I'll spill in it, you know,
Winter Loss.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
I gave it my all. I dropped the top girl,
and I was excited.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Listen, I get it, I get it. It might sound
really intense to hear a teenage girl talk this way,
but honestly, I don't think being a fighter and being
a teenager are two sides of a coin you have
to choose between. I spent enough time with Faith to
know that the girl who dreams about knockouts is the
same one who giggles with her sister right after they're
(18:35):
done arguing about sitting on each other's bed. Last December,
Faith was fourteen. She and her family traveled across the
country to the USA Boxing National Championship in Richmond, Virginia.
I went to and I'm not gonna lie. I almost
(18:55):
had a heart attack thirty seconds into watching her fight.
Watch literally notified me that my heart rate suddenly rose
and I wasn't even the one in the ring. In
the end, Faith did great in her bracket, and for
the championship fight, she was set to face one of
the toughest opponents of her young career.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
She's a top girl.
Speaker 11 (19:17):
She's never been defeated.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I seen her guys, someone who was.
Speaker 11 (19:21):
Worth fighting, worth every bit of my time, and she
didn't respect any of her fighters, and I want her
to respect me.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
I want to show who.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I am face opponent was known for ending fights early,
and here was Faith going pound for pound, punch for punch,
refusing to back down.
Speaker 10 (19:38):
You hear my dad saying, keep going, Faith, this is
what we worked for. Get mad, this w came forward.
If you ain't mad, you ain't ready, what a loss
You're going to show her that you came here to fight,
and you came here to give it to that.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Even with the words of encouragement, Faith found herself slowing down.
Her punches got a little lazy, and she stopped bouncing
as much.
Speaker 11 (20:00):
My arms are tired, and how I just didn't want
to let go. My body was sore and herding from
long days of training and struggling to make weight.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
The bell rings, and Faith goes back to her corner.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Something to My.
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Dad told me, how like, it don't matter what happened
to ask for board.
Speaker 11 (20:18):
You know you gave it to me. You know you
did everything you could.
Speaker 10 (20:22):
Faith, this is what we came for.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Faith lost, But she held her own against one of
the top girls nationwide. This teenager who was still juggling classes,
chores and curfews, got in that ring and showed a
kind of composure, courage, and heart that can't be taught.
It's fierce, it's alive, It's earned her parents, her siblings,
(20:45):
her coaches. They're all in this with her, and so
is her city.
Speaker 8 (20:52):
We will be right back, don't they. Yes, Hey, we're back.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
There are clearly more opportunities for young boxers now, but
that wasn't always the case for girls.
Speaker 12 (21:13):
So my parents didn't let me play sports. They didn't
let me box. I was never on teams. I think
that they were working too much, they couldn't afford things.
And then the other thing is girls don't fight.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Blanca Gutierres founded the all female Beautiful Brawlers competition. It's
held annually in the coastal city of Pacifica, California, at
her gym called baby Face Boxing. Blanca grew up watching
her dad box, but unlike Faith, Blanca's dad never let
her step into the ring as a young girl growing
(21:47):
up in the seventies. But in her twenties, she stepped
into a kickboxing gem and thirty minutes in she knew
she was hooked. Some of the coaches didn't take her
seriously at first, but Blanca didn't care.
Speaker 12 (22:00):
Six months later, I was fighting, and so I could
literally say Beautiful Brawlers started. Back then, in my mind,
I was like shit, like this is beautiful. This is
what my life's supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So years later, Blanca built the space. She never had
a gym where girls could fight and be taken seriously,
this is exactly the competition Faith has been training for.
The Beautiful Brawlers fight card hosted by Blanca's gym, a
stage built for fighters just like her.
Speaker 10 (22:32):
We're going to start this event, mom, and we want.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
To say thank you for showing on, thank you for
supporting us.
Speaker 12 (22:40):
The first time England comes across the pond to fight
in the United States. It's a great honor.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
I've been to my fair share of boxing tournaments at
this point, but this one feels different. The energy is
bubbly electric, and there's this unspoken sense of competition and sisterhood.
One by one, the fighters step into the ring for
three two minute rounds, with each about ending not in
(23:09):
rivalry but in sweaty, smiling hugs between opponents, no matter
whose hand was raised.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Right now, I feel confident, comfortable. I've been training for it,
and plus it's a smaller ring and I could put
on more of the show there. You know, she tries
to run cast your right away and gotta worry about
all that space.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Her hands are wrapped, her gloves are on, She's bouncing
in place, calm, focus, confident as ever. This isn't just
another match. It's her moment.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
I mean, it's whatever.
Speaker 10 (23:41):
I mean.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
I'm coming for that belt, pink belt. Now, I'm trying
to win the top international fight. I mean, that's what
I came before, and that fight right away.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
With the footwork of a dancer and the grit of
a street fighter, Faith puts on her show. Faith won
her match and also walked away with the second belt
(24:30):
for best fight of the night. I caught up with
Faith outside of the gym just moments after the fight.
A small crowd had already formed, family, friends, even a
few strangers. They were all waiting for a chance to
congratulate her and snap a photo with the champ.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
All Right, I just want I just want the one
I was talking about that Bik Glenn. I feel good,
I feel happy. Why isn't a little draink because I
was draining water, But I mean I still pulped her
head back. I gave a good show and a lot
of people enjoyed its.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Faith is already training for her next big fight. She'll
be back in the ring for the USA Boxing National
Championships this December. What else has been going through your
mind with preparing for your next fight?
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Honestly, you could even.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
One to wear or another, but for now, this fifteen
year old has school in the morning.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
This episode was produced by adrian Na Rodriguez and edited
by our managing editor Fernando Echavari. It was mixed by
Julia Caruso, JJ Carubin and gabriel Lebayez. Fact checking for
this episode by Rosanna Aguire. Special thanks to Diego Ayala
from the Press Recording Studio.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
In Stockton, California.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
The Latino USA team also includes Jessica Ellis, Rebecca I Vara, Rerinaldo,
Leanos Junior, Stephanie Lebou, Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Lis Luna Gorrimr Marquez,
Jurieta Martinelli, Monica Moreles Garcia and Nancy Trujuillo. Benni Le
Ramirez and I are co executive producers. I'm Your Host
Mariano Josa. Latino USA is part of Iheart's myke Ultura
(26:40):
podcast network. Executive producers at iHeart are Leo Gomez and
Arlene Santana. Join us again on our next episode. In
the meantime, we'll see you on all of our social media.
And don't forget, dear listener, Join futuro Plus. It's our
new membership program. You get to listen to everything ad
(27:01):
free and you get whol bonus content.
Speaker 8 (27:04):
What's not to love.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Join futuro Plus and you'll be happy you did a start.
Speaker 8 (27:09):
Approximaes Chao.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment,
building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.
The Heising Simons Foundation unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. More
at hsfoundation dot org and Skyline Foundation
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.