Like many people, Mauricio Lopez finds himself reminiscing on his childhood and early adulthood, with vivid memories of dominating inside the boxing ring. But despite his successes, his competitive career ended in a way that was far from the glitz and glamour that is often associated with the sport.
“I was a product of my environment,” said Lopez, 41, who grew up in Atwater. “I fell victim to the streets. Drugs, alcohol, gangs, getting arrested, you name it. Most of my life, I had boxing coaches telling me how good I was, how much potential I had, and how far I could go. When I became caught up in the street life, I felt like I had wasted the future I had in the sport, even though I still loved it. It always ate at me.”
In 2017, at the age of 33, Lopez was long removed from the sport, and his lifestyle was catching up to him. It culminated in a street fight in Reno, and a long and shameful drive home where he began contemplating taking his own life.
“It was rock bottom,” Lopez said. “I was dead inside. That year, my life started to crumble. I had reached the breaking point. I started to lose friends, my marriage was a nightmare, all because of my mistakes.
“When I got home, I just crashed to the floor and started crying. I have always believed in God, but I never knew Him, and I never served Him. I just looked up and yelled, 'Lord, change my life. I'll do anything for you to change me.’”
Eight years later, Lopez is one of the most respected boxing trainers in the region, operating Rise Above Boxing Club and Ministry in Turlock. Next weekend, he and one of his boxers, Cesar Olvera, will be in front of thousands of fans at Stockton’s Adventist Health Arena and for a worldwide, pay-per-view audience live on DAZN in what will be the biggest moment of their careers.
Olvera, 24, will be taking on Victor Saravia in a lightweight (135-pound) clash on the undercard of the Dec. 13 Matchroom Boxing promotion headlined by the WBC Silver and WBO International Super Middleweight title bout between champion Diego Pacheco and challenger Kevin Lele Sadjo. Pacheco vs. Sadjo is one of five championship fights slated for the eight-bout card.
“Look how far we made it. From being dead inside, abusing drugs and having no hope, now I’m about to go on the biggest stage in my life,” Lopez told the Journal on Wednesday. “This is a huge opportunity for Cesar, and moments like these are just as big for the coaches and the gyms. Against all odds, we made it to this point.”
Rise Above’s Cesar Olvera ready for his moment
“There are definitely some rough spots out there in the Bay Area,” said Cesar Olvera.
Olvera spent most of his childhood in Hayward, where he was tuning his boxing skills far away from the ring.
“I grew up fighting,” Olvera said with a laugh. “I was getting into neighborhood fights, apartment complex fights, school fights, street fights, all kinds of fights. At the same time, I always wanted to play sports professionally. I had played baseball, tried football, tried some other things, but then I went into the boxing gym and I was getting pretty good.”
Olvera had joined Kennel Boxing Gym in San Leandro when he was 15 years old, and proceeded to rack up 30 amateur victories.
Two years later, Olvera moved to the Central Valley to be closer to family. In 2024, after working out at different facilities, he committed to Rise Above as his primary place of training.
“I knew about Mauricio for many years because he knew a lot of other trainers and you’d see him at a lot of events, but I never came to the gym or even spoke to him,” Olvera explained. “I finally got to meet him right around when he was getting his gym established, and we crossed paths at the perfect time in my life, when my situation wasn’t the best. He just understood me, and we just clicked through our bickering and our personalities.”
While Olvera will always hold the Bay Area near and dear to his heart, he is proud when the ring announcers introduce him to be fighting out of Turlock by way of San Leandro. Putting on for Turlock was a proud moment as he participated in the USA Boxing Olympic Trials in 2024 and made his professional debut on June 12 of this year at the Chicken Ranch Casino and Resort, where he defeated Jaycee Kings by second-round knockout.
“When I first came here (to Rise Above), I thought I was all that, disregarding some advice or overruling what Coach Mauricio was telling me,” Olvera said. “But he gave me the little bits of brutal honesty that you need in this sport. He told me straight up that I was nowhere near where I needed to be, and I was still nobody. I learned you can’t have too big of an ego and pride, and you can’t not be teachable. It’s good to have some of those things, but you need to learn how to balance it.
“That and the closer connection to God I’ve made by being here, it all helped with that. My faith is everything to me now. If you don’t have faith, you don’t have anything. It plays the biggest of roles in all our lives now.”
Finding the right path
Following his infamous fight in Reno, Lopez confided in Pastor Gene Catano of Calvary Pentecostal Church in Modesto. At the time, the two were simply acquaintances from previous work together.
“I was just telling him stuff as a friend,” Lopez said. “I told him that I really needed help, how all these things were going bad for me in my life, from my friends and family, to being demoted at work, it was all going downhill. Gene told me, ‘If you’re serious about making a change, go to church with me this Sunday.’ And when I walked into that church for the first time, I knew I was home.”
It took a while for Lopez to kick his drinking and drug habits, but after a year of attending church for the first time, he was baptized in the river near Henderson Park in Snelling. At that point, Lopez continued to reminisce on his days in the boxing ring.
“I remember praying and asking God to please bring me back to boxing in some capacity, whether it was as a boxer, even though I was older, or as a coach. I knew there was more for me in this world and that I was meant to do something good. I also knew I wanted to change lives.”
The path back started by helping another local coach train in a garage. Finally back in the boxing scene, Lopez began dreaming of operating a gym of his own, and he wanted it in a certain environment. On his journey, he met his wife, Anna, who was a catapult in helping Lopez make his coaching dreams a reality.
“I wanted to be in the hood,” Lopez said. “Being in an area where you know the youth is being surrounded by negative influences, there needs to be places where they can go to remove themselves from those bad environments, the same ones I was in and that I fell victim to. But nothing was working out in terms of buildings and properties.”
One location constantly kept popping up, which was a warehouse at 1196 Lander Avenue in Turlock. A friend had mentioned it, but Lopez dismissed it, as he didn’t think it was in an area where youth frequented enough. In early 2020, Lopez decided to take the leap of faith, and before he knew it, he was training 11 children.
Rise Above guiding, training local boxers
Over in nearby Livingston, Eli Morales had recently graduated from high school and was pondering his next move. For all his life, Morales played sports. He was always competitive, and he wanted to remain active into adulthood. He became one of the first few to step foot into Rise Above.
“My dad was always a boxing fan, but I never actually did it. I was always scared to do it,” Morales said. “When I graduated, I had nothing to do, and I found out about this place through my dad, who had a co-worker that had his son boxing here. I decided to show up one day, just walked straight in and Mauricio was the first person I saw.”
What started as a recreational hobby has turned into something more for Morales. He was a big winner at the regional Golden Gloves tournament in 2023 and earned a trip to the national qualifiers in Texas. At the time, Morales first began dreaming of making boxing a career. The national tournament posed a huge opportunity, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get his arm raised, even if it meant fighting through what he thought was a minor foot injury.
He wishes he had a foot injury.
An MRI soon revealed that Morales had a tumor in his ankle, and he needed immediate surgery. The news was a gut punch, but his faith got him through successful surgeries, a full recovery, and a return to the ring.
Around that time, teammate Oscar Cruz dislocated his knee while sparring. After surgery and recovery, Cruz battled his way to the California Golden Gloves stage in 2024.
Morales, Cruz and Olvera have each been baptized in special ceremonies held at the gym. Since its opening in 2020, 21 children have been baptized.
Lopez wants it clear that Rise Above is a ministry first, and that boxing is the activity they connect over.
“Boxing is the entertainment part, the activity,” Lopez said. “Above anything else, we serve God. This is my way of spreading the Gospel, of changing the trajectory of the lives of so many children who may be going down the wrong path or going through tough times. I want others to realize that every child has a gift, but many children won’t realize those gifts if the community doesn’t step up and empower them in different ways. Boxing is my way.”
Morales has achieved an amateur record of 25-15 and is also aiming to turn pro in 2026.
“I want to become the best fighter I could be, however high a level I could take it,” Morales said. “Going pro is definitely in reach, and once you’re there, the goal is to become a champion. I know I have work ahead of me, so I’m excited to take on the process Cesar taking this leap has inspired so many of us here.
“At the same time, as exciting as this all is, we also know to never throw boxing in front of the ministry. The ministry is always first, whether it's praying before we start a gym session, doing Bible studies every Tuesday night. God is always first.”
Eye on the prize
Already a professional, Olvera feels as if a world title is closer than many people outside of his circle may realize. The 5-foot-9 boxer is well-rounded in all facets of the game, as shown in his dismantling of King earlier this year. And as Matchroom Boxing has quickly realized over the past few weeks, he draws a crowd.
For his debut at Chicken Ranch, he sold over $20,000 in tickets by himself, and is expecting another large crowd in Stockton, which he credits to his family connections between the Bay Area and the Central Valley.
Olvera’s case was also an example of never knowing who could be watching. After his explosive showing at Chicken Ranch, the camp of Gabriel Flores Jr. recognized Olvera’s talent, potential and ability to draw crowds, and were able to put in a good word for the Turlock boxer as the prelims of the Dec. 13 card were being put together. He was matched with the 32-year-old Saravia.
Fighting out of Los Angeles, Saravia sports a 1-6-2 professional record. Olvera is confident that he can hand the 5-foot-5 Muay-Thai specialist his seventh loss and turn the heads of even more within Matchroom Boxing — one of the premier boxing promotions in the world today led by Eddie Hearn — to potentially earn a multi-fight contract.
“Even though I've never been under lights as bright as these, I'm so comfortable,” Olvera said. “I just feel like I'm supposed to be here. When I got the news that I was going to be on DAZN, everybody around me was excited, but I have seen this coming for two years. If anything, this has been long overdue for me. Nothing can stop me, and with God in front of me, it just confirms that feeling that I can't fail.”
Olvera and Saravia are currently scheduled to open the show next weekend. The event begins at 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, Flores will be the co-main event, taking on Joe Cordina for the vacant WBO International Lightweight championship. Prior to that is the vacant WBO International Super Lightweight title bout between Ernesto Mercado and Antonio Moran.
Opening the main card is Arturo Cardenas defending his WBC Continental Americas Super Bantamweight belt against Cesar Vaca.
The featured prelim will be between Skye Nicolson and Yuliahn Luna for the interim WBC World Female Super Bantamweight title.
