Mingus Union High School senior Kevin Villegas, 17, will be representing Team USA against 16-year old Luis Emilo of Team Mexico as part of Golden Cobra Promotions’ International Bullseye Bash 2 K-1 Kickboxing show on Saturday, May 4, at 6 p.m. at Bull Shooters, 3337 W. Period Ave. in Phoenix. The match is sanctioned by the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations.
“I’m excited to get back in the ring because I’ve been wanting to get back for so long,” Villegas said, referring to his two-year absence from the sport after a knee injury. “I was telling my mom that I really want to get back in … I feel like I’m not betraying my country, but I used to live there. But, I have to beat Mexico because I’m here now, and they gotta take the loss.”
A few days after Villegas began talking to his mother about fighting again, he got a call from his coach, Robert Gonzales of HDH Powerhouse Gym, who told him that he had been selected to represent Team USA on the card.
“He’s on track to graduate, he has a job, he has a car and what I want in a fighter to represent [us], especially at this level, they have to be balanced in life,” Gonzales said. “You have to be balanced in all aspects of life before you even start a training session like this.”
The duo has been putting in three-to-four-hour daily training sessions, from working on cardio at the Cottonwood Recreation Center to driving up to Flagstaff for an intensive training camp with other fighters.
“Cardio has been the main thing that we’ve been working on because I had my technique down,” Villegas said. “After my second fight, I took a good break since the [Gonzales’] gym closed down and we’ve been training in the rec center. I can do more stuff that I wasn’t able to before since I was injured. I couldn’t kick with my left leg. It just made me focus on the knee more than anything else, so it gave me anxiety every time I did something with my left leg.”
Gonzales has been studying martial arts for over 20 years since relocating to the Verde Valley from Las Vegas. He was trained by Sam Plunkett and has been passing on his training to Villegas.
“I started studying and training in martial arts and came up with an American style of martial arts … I added a defense system into it,” Gonzales said. “So we’ve been running with it. We just teach these kids how to mostly defend themselves and fight, not to be the aggressor … but to be calm and loving and know how to defend themselves.”
Villegas started his martial arts training with taekwondo at the age of seven, and moved to Cottonwood from Agua Prieta and Cananea, Mexico when he was 10 years old.
“Patience is a very big thing because it’s difficult to transition from your native language to a different language and pronounce the words correctly,” Villegas said. “And when you don’t pronounce the words correctly, people can get upset and they don’t understand you.”
Villegas noted that his martial arts training has helped him to become more confident and more patient, especially in high-pressure situations that arise while he works in customer service.
“Kickboxing trains you for anxious moments; it just helps you control [your emotions],” Villegas said. “The practice and training has paid off for me big time, because before a fight you feel very anxious, you even get cold sweats at night, but dealing with my nerves has gotten easier over time.”
Gonzales said that Villegas has been calling him daily throughout the training regimine and that many of his earlier insecurities before entering a fight have melted away.
“It’s just really neat to see that he’s excited,” Gonzales said. “Before, he always would doubt himself before his fights, and he would try to back out of all of his fights. Finally, this one here, he’s been training hard, he’s eating well and he is ready to go. He’s super-excited to be a part of Team USA. [The promoters] want him to go fight in Mexico in Cancun at the end of May, but we’re still waiting for dates for that.”
A ring isn’t just a battleground between competitors for Villegas; it’s also where many of his dreams take place.
“The first thing that comes to my heart is fighting. I really want to do that,” Villegas said of his plans for after high school. “I’ve always seen people on TV and I always wonder how it feels to have that job. I wonder what your lifestyle is, I wonder how you train. But something [else] that would also have my attention is electrical work … I’m thinking about going to Yavapai College to go get a couple of certificates. And then find a company to work for … then, maybe later on, go into business and have my own company.”
“It’s his opportunity and it’s his time to take this seriously and I think my selection has been dead on … so we’re going to see what happens on May 4,” Gonzales said.